Thomas Iacobucci | The Crow’s Nest
By James Bennett III
Professor Karin Braunsberger, who teaches an online course called “Principles of Entrepreneurship,” likes assigning projects where students do “real-life work” whenever possible.
This semester, while brainstorming projects, she was contacted by Wanda Chaves, a USF alumna, who provided a pre-built project that would have students work with local nonprofit organizations.
The project, Social Entrepreneurship Experiential Program, was created by Clean the World, an organization that collects and recycles used soap and other hygiene products from the hospitality industry.
As part of the project, six teams of students were told to find locally accessible nonprofit organizations in need of hygiene products. After each team is finished raising their money this week, they will send it to Clean the World for “build kits.”
The class is planning to host a hygiene kit-building party in the lobby of Lynn Pippenger Hall on Nov. 13 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. During the building party, students and faculty will be invited to help put the hygiene kits together and write notes of encouragement to those who receive them.
Each kit will contain a bar of recycled soap, bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion, a disposable razor, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a washcloth.
“The reason I chose it as a semester project is because it gives real life experience,” Braunsberger said. “So instead of talking about how to form teams and make sure that the teams work well together, they’re experiencing this in a real-world environment.”
Braunsberger added that it’s important for students to develop skills in team management, conflict resolution, setting goals and time management.
“I thought that would be really unique for students to be in an industry environment while still being in a safe environment in college,” Braunsberger said.
Students will send their hygiene kits to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic, Pinellas Hope, ALPHA House of Pinellas County, Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Board, Daystar Life Center and Sol Relief.
Braunsberger said the resilience and creativity of her students was impressive; some students raised money through GoFundMe, while others organized fundraising events.
Bryan Carpenter, a junior entrepreneurship major, feels like his team fell short with the $400 they raised on GoFundMe. There was another setback, too: The first $200 his team raised was sent directly to St. Petersburg Free Clinic because of a mistake with the GoFundMe page. With the remaining money, they will be able to put together about 40 hygiene kits.
“We still did a valiant effort,” Carpenter said. “It was an honest mistake. It happens, but, you know, it’s not like it went to some hacker in Russia.”
Carpenter said he hopes the hygiene kits his team donates will help homeless people “feel human again.”
Braunsberger said she plans on reusing the SEEP project in later semesters, but will likely change the workflow so students have a better idea of everything the project entails earlier in the semester.
“A lot of our students stay here after they graduate, so having a network of community members that can help them in their professions later on, that’s also very important,” she said.
