By: Valerie Varrasso | Staff Writer
Zachary Eekhof, a senior here at Salve is the president of our on-campus club, Enactus. Enactus’ (which is a worldwide club) main goal is to find projects located in the community where they can create sustainable products to help people. Eekhof has been the president for a year now and is currently on his second term. The club is relatively new to Salve. Last year in 2018 they had eight people to start with, and throughout the year ended up with 11 people total. This year, 22 people are members of the club, and they are looking for more members to join.
Last year, the club had two important conferences take place throughout the school year; a summit in March that was in New Jersey, and a national conference located in Kansas City that was in May. Eekhof explained to me what the procedure was like last year at the National conference. He said that the club flew down the day before the conference started and memorized their lines on the plane ride, along with running through them in the hotel room the night before. The next day, they got up early and presented in front of about 30 people along with a table of 5-7 judges. The judges grade on how well each team meets their goals, and Eekhof said that “fate was in their (the judges) hands”. Each round, they eliminate groups until they reach their final consensus.
At the 2018 Nationals, Salve’s Enactus won an award entitled “Rooke of the Year”. Eekhof even won an award himself, which was the Top 10 Presidents in the Country. He was against around 400-500 teams and still came in the top 10. Eekhof is proud of the group’s accomplishment and his own accomplishment at last years Nationals.
Right now, the club is working on many different projects and ideas, one of them being a concept that has been produced by one of the Eboard members, Matthew Mascola. Mascola wants to recycle/upcycle plastic that washes up against the ocean shore. The only problem with this project is that it is difficult to determine what type of plastic is being washed up against the shore, so the club is reaching out to all chemistry majors to help them with that.
Eekhof believes that this club has a lot of potential and wants to see as many people join as possible. With him being a senior and graduating in Spring 2020 (he labeled this as being an issue), he is trying to do everything to make sure that that this club is sustainable for the future. Eekhof also believes that this club follows what Salve’s Mercy Mission is, and says that he wouldn’t have been able to do this without the amazing members who are on the E-board.
Since this article was published, Eekhof resigned from his position as President of Enactus; although he will still be involved with the club. Miranda Benoit has stepped in as President in his absence.
