KEO in the News!
Colleagues Newsletter (Volume 18, Number 4, February '08)
Finding Your Path
by Ashley Neil (senior and president of KEO, CSC)
Entrepreneurship isn’t just an academic discipline at St. Kate’s; it’s a way life! The Katie’s Entrepreneur Organization (KEO) is a student club, designed to encourage students to take leadership roles in their community. KEO is more than just a just a club: it’s a place where creative ideas flourish and grow into real business projects. Our mission is to empower students to discover innovative ways to influence and lead through entrepreneurial acts. We inspire women to take risks and explore ways to create profound change in our local, national and global communities.
As outgoing president of KEO, I would like to share my CSC journey of self-discovery through entrepreneurship. Taking an entrepreneurship class and founding the KEO club have been the answer to my prayers. As far back as I can remember, I have always been a leader. I always used my imagination and dreamed of solving the world’s problems with my ideas. Throughout college, I found it difficult to fit in. I was the one who had ideas about changing the world but never had the resources or direction to do so. I was often called the “what if girl” because I always said, “What if we could all feed the hungry or solve poverty?” So many of my friends said, “That was a noble idea, but no one would ever do it.” I often became discouraged, until I decided that I was going to change this way of thinking.
I have had a roller-coaster ride throughout college. Many of my dearest professors can attest to this. I have been advised through the years to take time off from school, become an actress or policewoman or try a different major. Bless all those professors that challenged me and pushed me to seek my true self.
Before I realized that I wanted to pursue entrepreneurship, I devoted an entire year to prayer with my prayer-partner at Bethany. I asked God and St. Therese of Lisieux to show me the way and direct me in best using my talents. One year later, I was searching for an on-campus job and came across an opportunity to work as a student assistant for the International Institute for Women Entrepreneurs (IIWE). From the beginning, I knew that I was meant to meet these extraordinary and amazing women who dreamed the same vision: to create leaders who would make a significant change and impact the world. If I had not devoted my time to prayer or begun working at IIWE, I would still be lost. I would still be pursuing ten different majors and ten different clubs.
If I could leave one piece of advice for students, it would be this: pursue and talk to all of your family members and professors, your mentors. Ask them what they think you can be the BEST at in the world. They are your greatest cheerleaders and know you well. They will give you their honest opinions. Take their suggestions, advice and ideas and run with them. Find your place in this world. Seek your talents and decide if you want to make a difference in this world through entrepreneurship. You never know if you will be the next Oprah Winfrey, constructing a new school in South Africa for poor and uneducated girls. You just never know the possibilities of what you can create or become until you go after your dreams!
I am graduating this spring and will pass the baton of KEO leadership to Katrina Volker. She talks about her college journey into understanding her entrepreneurial self:
When I entered St. Kate’s three years ago, I was eager and excited to move on with the next phase of my life. Always looking toward the future, I set goals for myself including graduating from an accredited college and making a difference to my community and myself. My grandmother attended St Catherine’s, and I am glad to be attending myself.
My parents are both entrepreneurs, and I have grown up witnessing first hand the hard work and dedication it takes to start a company. I never considered the possibility of a nine-to-five job because I always had a vision that I would take a unique idea and run with it just as my parents did. St Catherine’s has provided me with insights I never could have imagined. With majors in marketing/management and entrepreneurship, I am learning the ins and outs of the business world.
When I was encouraged to join Katie's Entrepreneurship Organization, I thought it would be a great way to gain entrepreneurial experience with less at stake, using other people’s money and resources instead of my own. This is a growing club providing a unique opportunity to gather with colleagues having similar interests and aspirations. KEO helps build the interpersonal skills needed to accomplish goals when working in a group. We are given the opportunity to shape a business plan and change the community.