eHIVE hosting series on ‘redemptive entrepreneurship’

Waynesburg University’s eHIVE is holding a Lunch and Learn Series on Redemptive Entrepreneurship on Tuesday, Jan. 28 and Tuesday, Feb. 11 at noon. It will include lunch and consist of discussion on how to become a more redemptive leader.

The Praxis website describes redemption as, “…giving or sacrificing to restore something or someone to its proper place.” 

The Praxis Academy is the organization where the idea for this Lunch and Learn series originated.The website also describes redemptive entrepreneurship as, “… the work of joining God in creative restoration through sacrifice, in venture building and innovation.”

Last year, four students went to the Praxis Academy. The academy is a five-day event that gathers entrepreneurs and students from all over the world. The Waynesburg students that attended were Ryan Brownfield, John Glen Davis, Kyle Warmbien and Nathan Jecelin. These students will be leading the events in the eHIVE and sharing what they learned from the event.

Four student scholarships will be available for this year’s upcoming Praxis Academy conference. The scholarship will cover room and board, lodging, and food while at the conference. The scholarship winners will only have to cover airfare. This would then allow those four students to share their experiences at future eHIVE Lunch and Learn events.

“It’s a huge benefit to students.” Cassy Dorsch, the program coordinator of the entrepreneurial leadership program, said.

“That’s sort of the goal with the Lunch and Learn series. We want people to start thinking about redemptive entrepreneurship and to start understanding what that looks like. How we portray redemptive entrepreneurship in our businesses,” Dorsch said.

A video from the conference will be played at the event hosted by the eHIVE, followed by a discussion to dive deeper into the idea of redemptive entrepreneurship.

“I’m personally excited to share the redemptive entrepreneurial mindset with people on campus because this conference was very beneficial to our students that attended. It was very beneficial to all of us who attended. I’ve been wanting to tell people and share what I’ve learned,” Dorsch said. 

It is also an opportunity for the Praxis Fellows, the four scholarship winners who went to the conference, to share what they’ve learned as well.

“We’ve discussed Lunch and Learn series about different topics also,” Dorsch said.

 Each semester, a meeting is set up with a focus group of students to share the different ideas that have been introduced and what might possibly become the next topic of the Lunch and Learn series.

Out of the focus group of students came the idea to learn better ways to effectively communicate stories. From that, the eHIVE will be holding a How to Tell Your Story series hosted in partnership with the university’s Department of Communication and the writing center. This series will also be a two-day event. The first workshop of the series will be held on Thursday, Feb. 20 from 4pm to 6pm in the Tony Room in the Eberly Library. The second workshop will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 4pm to 6pm in the eHIVE.