There are many great philanthropy opportunities to be found in Tucson, but for this group of students, giving back to the community is done out of respect for their club motto: enable progress through entrepreneurial action.

Enactus, a student club founded in 1998, is one of many university chapters associated with the international Enactus organization — formerly Students In Free Enterprise — for the purpose of using entrepreneurial concepts to impact the community. Students in the club come up with projects that will be applied in the community to improve quality of life and living standards.

“A lot of our projects have been off-campus,” said Mariah Hoskins, vice president of membership and marketing. “Mostly, the on-campus events are for recruiting new members.”

Hoskins said she was recruited to join the club by word of mouth and has been in the club for the last three years.

Hoskins also said Enactus currently has three projects running: Buck Up on Recycling, a gift shop project with Tucson Medical Center and Empowering Women’s Success, a project which started last year in collaboration with TMM Family Services.

“A big component of Enactus is to impact your community and do it in a couple different ways,” said Melanie Weber, a project manager of Buck Up on Recycling who has been a member for two years.

Weber said the club’s focus when planning a project is to incorporate people, profit and the environment.

“I think Buck Up on Recycling is a great example of a project that has met all those needs,” Weber said. The project aims to remove unsafe car seats from off the road and then recycle the material to create something new out of them, Weber added.

As a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Weber said it’s beneficial to join Enactus because she can put what she learns in her classes to use in the community.

“I just really wanted to help the community,” Weber said. “I just wanted to make the most out of my time here, and I thought Enactus embodied all those things.”
Hoskins said a rewarding aspect about Enactus is the opportunity to see fellow students take leadership roles in projects they are passionate about.

“As a VP, it’s so rewarding to see the people in my club love [the work] as much as I do,” Hoskins said.
Hoskins added that what differentiates Enactus from other philanthropy groups on campus is that the students are the ones who come up with and then execute the projects.

Weber added that being in Enactus is a great way to see projects having long-term results in the community. Weber was a part of the club’s project with TMM Family Services, which included donating bicycles to refugees through the International Rescue Committee.

“Speaking specifically to the TMM project, they [and the women] have been so thankful for everything we have done,” Hoskins said.

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