The month of October was a big one for the School of Business Administration. On Oct. 14-15, Stetson’s Business Ethics Case Competition (BECC) Team earned the bracket runner-up position in the Central Region division during the 19th Annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition.

On Oct. 21 at the 2021 Cairns Foundation Innovation Challenge, senior Chipper Stempkowski of Altamonte Springs and junior Kendall Buck of Gilbert, Arizona, placed first and second, respectively, in a competition of young entrepreneurs.

Then, a week later at the 38^th Annual Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) Global Conference and Pitch Competition, eight Hatters participated in CEO’s pitch competition, with Stempkowski advancing to the finals.

Further, at the same conference, which was held in Tampa, Lou Paris, MBA, director of the Prince Entrepreneurship Leaders Program, received the Outstanding Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization Chapter Advisor of the Year Award. CEO is the largest and most prestigious collegiate organization in the entrepreneurship field.

Business Ethics

At the Ethics Case Competition, Stetson went up against Simon Fraser University, the winner in the Central Region bracket division, along with Georgetown University and the University of North Dakota. The case presented to the students this year was on deep-sea mining.

Sophomore students Sadie Jensen of Terrytown, Louisiana, and Jaylen Walton of Daytona Beach — both first-year BECC Team members — represented Stetson during the virtual international event, which was hosted by the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

“Participation in the Collegiate Ethics Case Competition was an experience that will benefit me for the rest of my life,” said Jensen, who is majoring in entrepreneurship and environmental science and studies.

“This intellectual challenge helped me advance my skill set on another level, which will strengthen my continuous professional development,” said Walton, a communication and media studies major.

Jensen and Walton were supported by BECC team captain and alternate Rebecca Hett, who is a human resource management and religious studies senior from St. Augustine.

The BECC Team had three weeks to prepare a business case on deep-sea mining. The teams participating in the competition assumed the identity of a consulting group that was advising the Ford Motor Co. on the position the business should take on sourcing minerals that are used in electric vehicles from sea-bed mining operations versus land-based mining sources.

The student groups delivered a 20-minute presentation on the ethical, financial and legal implications of a deep-sea mining decision that could possibly affect Ford Motor’s automobile business, brand and reputation.

The international tournament featured 25 teams that represented top public and private business schools in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The state of Florida was represented by Stetson, which was one of five private higher-education institutions that participated in the Collegiate Ethics Case Competition, as well as the University of Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University.

Entrepreneurship

At the Cairns Challenge, Stempkowski won $10,000, and Buck won $5,000. Plus, both prizes also included a one-year resident enrollment in the UCF Volusia County Business Incubator.

Stempkowski is an Eagle Scout and the Boy Scouts of America Central Florida Council’s program specialist. He created the Boy Scout’s online merit-badge system, which provides scouts with a way to enter their accomplished tasks for rank advancement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His Boy Scouts of America project sparked the YourCEtracker, which sends subscribers notifications and reminders before an organization’s accreditation or employee’s professional certification lapses for $2 a month. The app also has a dashboard that features certification statuses and can track continuing education credits.

“The $10,000 prize will help me take my first steps with launching the YourCEtracker app to the public,” said Stempkowski, a management major.

Buck pitched her Herbtastic cooking utensil during the contest. She enjoys cooking with herbs and spices, but stripping the leaves off the herb stem became a time-consuming chore in the kitchen. She designed the Herbtastic, a kitchen gadget that removes herb leaves.

Buck created the Herbtastic on a 3D printer in the Stetson University duPont-Ball Library’s Innovation Lab and finalized the design with Innovation Lab Manager Tony Ganus during her first year on campus. The Herbtastic is a double-sided, red rake that rakes and removes the leaves off the herb stem, and can be used on any herb and retails for $12.95.

“The competition featured amazing and qualified student entrepreneurs, so it was an honor to be selected as one of the winners,” said Buck, an entrepreneurship and management major.

Stetson’s Prince Entrepreneurship Leaders Program coached and prepared Stempkowski and Buck for the pitch competition by providing them with advice and tips for creating their business pitches. This year, the Prince Entrepreneurship Leaders Program had five students participate in the 2021 Cairns Foundation Innovation Challenge, as well as the eight at the CEO event.

The Joseph C. Prince Entrepreneurship Program launched the Leaders Program four years ago. Entrepreneurship students participate in a selection process before they can join the elite group, which is limited to 10 to 15 dedicated team members.

Not coincidentally, Paris is a widely successful entrepreneur who has worked in six countries in varying fields of business.

-Sandra Carr