Over the last nine years, Grove City College students have raised more than $35,000 for charity through an Entrepreneurship class that teaches students how to create, market and sell products online.
The donations are the proceeds of businesses that students started in an eCommerce course taught by Cedric Lewis, assistant professor of Entrepreneurship.
In the class, students learn about the essential components of a successful online enterprise, in part, through working in teams to design and operate their own businesses during the semester. The student businesses were featured at Venture Village, an event sponsored by the College’s Entrepreneurship program during Homecoming. Student teams also created individual websites for their businesses to sell their products.
Robb Myer, interim executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation at Grove City College, hailed the students’ efforts.
“Watching an entrepreneur make their first sale is magical. The eCommerce course is an amazing ride from idea to product to business model to sales all in a semester long sprint. Entrepreneurship is action and eCommerce is all action. No sitting on the sidelines,” Myer said.
Students who took the class in the fall raised nearly $4,300 for worthy causes. Since the class was first offered in 2017, eCommerce students have generated $55,545 in gross revenue and donated $35,891 to help people around the world.
This fall’s student eCommerce businesses, and their charity partners, were:
- Stamped – Audrey Karwowski ’26 (CEO), Reagan Mays ’27 (CMO), and Brayden Schrieber ’27 (CFO). Handmade leather keychains with custom designs. Partnered with Hogar de Vida Guatemala, a Christian organization in Guatemala that provides a safe environment for at risk children to learn about Jesus Christ.
- WaveWorn – Daly Marquard ’27 (CEO, COO), Tava Derr ’26 (CMO), and Truman Eichler ’28 (CFO). Handmade sea glass necklaces and bracelets. Partnered with Kingdom Overflow Ministries, an organization that rebuilds homes of hurricane victims in North Carolina.
- Terravida – Blythe Douglass ’28 (COO), Emily Lewis ’28 (CMO), Ellie Rodriguez ’27 (CEO), and Sarah Karns ’28 (CFO). Creating beauty in homes and hope in the world with hand-painted plant pots. Partnered with Shared Hope for Orphans Worldwide, an organization in Uganda that supports orphans and spreads the message of Jesus.
- Cascade Charms – Elika Weaver ’27 (CFO), Kenzie Mawhinney ’26 (CEO), and Emily Fox ’26 (COO). Custom beaded keychains. Partnered with Water for Good, a nonprofit that seeks to end the water crisis worldwide.
- Play It Forward – Hezekiah Harriman ’27 (CEO), Isaac Wick ’26 (CMO), and Dash Lanzilotta ’28 (CFO). A family-friendly emergency preparedness card game that teaches disaster readiness skills through engaging gameplay. Partnered with World Vision, an international organization focused on ending extreme poverty worldwide.
- Totes & Loaves – Gavin Rhodes ’28 (CFO), Emily Williams ’28 (CEO), and Jocelyn Bolumen ’27 (CMO). Canvas tote bags with unique biblically themed designs. Partnered with eduKenya, an organization that helps the people of Kenya break the cycle of poverty through education.
Each team raised an average of $714.07 for their charities this year.
Grove City College’s Entrepreneurship program, which includes both the academic Department of Entrepreneurship and the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation (gccentrepreneurship.com), and serves students of all majors, is recognized as a national model for other colleges and universities by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The Department of Entrepreneurship is part of Grove City College’s Winklevoss School of Business.