By: Kyla Wetmore and Asher LeVos
Last Thursday, 65 students enrolled in Principles of Marketing raised over $3,000 for Child Impact International by hosting six events as part of a class project. Events included game nights, basketball and pickleball tournaments, a music competition and an outdoor market.
John Felicano, a junior biology major, attended the pickleball tournament. He found out about the event through a friend who was organizing it.
“There were a lot of vendors giving out drinks and some food,” Felicano said. “I thought it was a pretty good event.”
Another student, freshman nursing major Mia Valdivieso Hernandez, shared comments about the 3v3 basketball tournament she attended to support her friend, who helped organize the event.
“They had a couple of games going on at once, so if you got bored, you could walk around, rotate [and] see something that piqued your interest,” Valdivieso Hernandez said. “It was a nice de-stressor in the middle of the week.”
School of Business Professor Ben Schnell said he added the project to his class a few years ago.
“My philosophy as a professor is [that] I try, whenever possible, to make something really applicable,” he said.
Schnell added that the event combined key marketing concepts while also raising funds for Child Impact International, a nonprofit organization based in Collegedale, Tennessee. Its mission, according to its website, is to “empower vulnerable children through education and fight to eradicate exploitation.”
Since Schnell introduced the project to the class curriculum, students have raised over $14,000 for Child Impact.
“It’s a really amazing nonprofit that helps the most vulnerable, and that’s the best possible thing,” Schnell said.
Students said that fundraising for the organization was a huge motivator as they worked on the project. Liz Struntz, a sophomore business-strategic communication major, said she loved that her project helped kids around the world.
“As Christians and as business students, we need to be mission focused, so doing something for such a good cause was really applicable to me as someone who wants to [work for] a nonprofit organization,” Struntz said.
Students faced many challenges while planning and executing their projects.
When Struntz’s group, which hosted an outdoor market, saw that it was supposed to rain the day of their event, they worried that the weather would change their plans.
“We all were praying,” Struntz said. “Our families were praying that the weather would be really good. We had a couple of raindrops, [but] besides that, the weather evened out and was really perfect.”
Another group planned on including Southern’s mascot in its pickleball tournament, but Forrest the Bear fell ill right before the event, according to Diego Luna, a senior accounting major.
Malia Knowlton, a junior business administration major, led the group that hosted a 3v3 basketball tournament and ultimately earned $705, the most money of all the events. Even with successfully hosting 38 teams in the tournament, the group faced some challenges.
When the students got to the gym, they realized that they had no sound system to communicate with their teams, because the group thought only a few people would participate. Fortunately, one of the team members borrowed a friend’s karaoke sound monitor and microphone a few minutes before the tournament began. Knowlton said that even though there were hiccups, her group was able to solve problems well.
“Because my team had a lot of intentionality in preparation and frontloading, it allowed us to have—I don’t want to say minimal stress, because the event was stressful —but it allowed things to run smoother,” Knowlton said.
Other students mentioned the difficult timeframe, as they had about two weeks to plan and prepare for the events. Isabella Fernandes-Hidalgo, a sophomore accounting major, reflected on her experience and gave advice to future students.
“The timeframe for the project [made it] really hard to get everything done, but just try to stay positive about it,” she said.
Fernandes-Hidalgo also urged future students to pray before every meeting.
“There were points when we were meeting, and we didn’t pray right before, and it felt like nothing was going right,” she said. “And then one meeting I said, ‘Guys, let’s just pray,’ and everything started to turn [around] when we did.”
Students also appreciated the lessons they learned from the project, especially those in leadership roles within their groups.
Luna said that working with his group taught him leadership lessons, including the importance of taking initiative and working past fear of failure or rejection. Knowlton said she learned a lot about team communication and delegation for efficiency and effectiveness. Struntz said the project taught her how to work together in teams with different personalities.
Eve Blanchard, a sophomore marketing major, expressed her appreciation for the support from university students who weren’t taking the class, since students had to raise $450 in profit to get an A on the project.
“Our grades are determined on how much money we make, so it means a lot for people to come,” Blanchard stated.
Earl Velasquez, a junior business administration major, agreed that Southern students should continue to support the fundraisers each year, if they are able.
“[Southern students’] participation helps make events more successful and increases the money that Child Impact receives,” Velasquez stated. “A lot of time and effort goes into organizing these events, and students always have a great time when they attend.”
