News Article

City college students named best entrepreneurs


3/15/2004 3:07:54 PM


The Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) chapter at College of North Atlantic won the Best Regional Start Up at the ACE Eastern Regional Exposition in Halifax on Feb. 13-15. The group includes business students, from left, Kathie-Lee Young of Deer Lake, Sylvia Goobie of Steady Brook, faculty advisor Don Woolridge, Kelly Keeping of Corner Brook, and Tina Randell of Roddickton. Missing from photo is Paula Hewlin of Parsons Pond. Star Photo by Cory Hurley

CORY HURLEY
Star Staff Writer
Reprinted with permission of the Western Star

The Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) chapter at College of North Atlantic was recognized as the Best Regional Start Up at the ACE Eastern Regional Exposition in Halifax on Feb. 13-15.

ACE believes the best way to educate youth about entrepreneurship is by practicing it hands-on with their projects, teaching what they have learned to others, and competing against other students to develop and implement creative projects that celebrate the principles of entrepreneurship.

ACE was introduced at the Corner Brook campus this school year to promote
entrepreneurship in students. The five students and faculty advisor making up the Corner Brook chapter wanted to bring the community together with this initiative and show them exactly what they have to offer. They had no idea their work would be recognized throughout Atlantic Canada and now showcased during the National Exposition.

“It was very impressive for us to win the award because we are a community college and going up against prestigious universities,” Kelly Keeping of Corner Brook told The Western Star, “When you come back to Corner Brook, with something so prestigious, you are proud.”

“We are working hard and we want to bring the community together and we really want to get involved. There’s a lot of potential here in Corner Brook and there’s a lot of room for growth as such. We are hoping that, with ACE, we can get out there, and by bringing back this award we can make the community see that we are trying.”

The ACE Regional Exposition, held annually in three parts of Canada, teaches, inspires and motivates ACE students and faculty from across the country, and serves as a beneficial networking forum for entrepreneurial-minded students and their dedicated faculty advisors.

The students involved in the Corner Brook chapter include Keeping, Kathie-Lee Young, Sylvia Goobie, Tina Randell, and Paula Hewlin all single parents doing their first year of business at the school. They are joined by their faculty advisor Don Woolridge.

The Eastern Exposition was held by Saint Mary’s University where the students and faculty gained a greater knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurial opportunities, career possibilities, and the skills and confidence to further develop their ACE projects and initiatives towards their participation in the National Exposition, being held in Toronto on May 9-12.

“It was great. We actually got the chance to meet a lot of people and just the experience of being there and talking to different people,” Keeping said. “You take so much from that, and when you come back with an award you feel so much better about it. It was an amazing experience.”

Woolridge was also impressed to be recognized with this award and was glad the students had the opportunity to take in the exposition.

“At this particular event, there were 100 students representing a number of colleges and universities in Atlantic Canada,” he said. “These are the up-and-coming business people in Atlantic Canada. These are the movers and shakers.”

“At the conference they had a number of seminars involving goal-setting, asset mapping, time management and they also had a number of guest speakers talking about their experiences. After the seminar I can honestly say the students were very motivated to continue on and basically become the best in Canada.”

ACE Corner Brook is currently conducting ventures such as an on-campus single parent association and creating a child identification booklet to be distributed from Port aux Basques to St. Anthony. The group is also looking at future undertakings involving Junior Achievement in the elementary schools in the region.

The group sees their experience at the exposition as a benefit for the future of the Corner Brook chapter.

“When we were there that weekend we learned a lot,” Goobie said. “One of the biggest things I got out of it was the asset mapping. ... Basically what it is, is what we stand for – we want to get out into the community and get the community involved and learn more about our business program in doing that. Asset mapping is basically about involving the community and having everybody work together. We are going to learn more about it. It seems to be a strong networking idea, and we’d like to apply it with ACE.”

The students are now preparing a presentation of their work for the national competition. The eastern, central and western regional winners will compete at the national event.

ACE Inc is a national, not-for-profit organization providing and promoting education, training and instruction to Canadian youth on entrepreneurship and the formation and operation of businesses. ACE runs programs on 36 campuses across the country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Four programs define ACE: Fair Enterprise, Ventures, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and Student Business Owners. For more information on the Regional Exposition, see the ACE website: http://www.acecanada.ca/news/news28.asp.

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