By Emily Rachelle Russell | Echo
On Oct. 19-21, junior Anna Cummings and graduate student Danielle Spoutz with Associate Professor of Accounting Eric Hernandez and Associate Professor of Business Jody Hirschy attended and presented at the 2017 Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) Annual Conference, held this year in San Diego, California.
Cummings and Hernandez presented the paper "Changing the World through Student Entrepreneurship: Developing a Quality Student-Led Service Learning Enactus Group." Spoutz and Hirschy presented on Taylor's recently acquired business accreditation from the
Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
The conference is held annually in different cities for business faculty from Christian schools to "assist and encourage Christian business faculty in the study, integration, teaching, and application of Biblical truths in service to the academy, students, and the business community," according to the CBFA website.
According to Cummings, papers for presentation at the conference were submitted for consideration in June, and acceptance was announced in August. Students don't usually attend or present at this conference, and the audience is only faculty members. Cummings, a business management systems and marketing systems double major, was the only undergraduate student in attendance.
"It was awesome," Cummings said. "It was amazing. I was the youngest person there I think, because I was 20. . . . People were really nice. I was nervous that they would be like, 'What's this kid doing here?' But they were so nice. . . . They were just so encouraging."
Cummings is the president of Taylor's Enactus team. According to their website, Enactus is an international organization using entrepreneurial projects to unite student, academic and business leaders in learning and improving their communities. There are over 450 Enactus teams and over 16,000 students total working on over 900 current projects.
The focus of Cummings' Enactus presentation at the conference helped interested faculty learn more about the organization to potentially start Enactus teams at their own schools. Working on an Enactus team encourages transformation and progress in students' lives and offers professional opportunities and connections that can benefit them after graduation.
"It was a huge privilege to go," Cummings said. "I went expecting just to say my piece, present, do whatever (and) leave, but I learned a lot, too-getting to attend other sessions and kind of think about things from a faculty perspective. . . . That was exciting."
Students from any major interested in getting involved with Enactus can contact Cummings at anna_cummings@taylor.edu.
