Derek McMonagle, a senior business administration major at Waynesburg University, has high aspirations for this year.

Aside from graduating, McMonagle is planning his second annual three-on-three basketball tournament to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

McMonagle started the event last year for a class, BUS 358—Leadership and Stewardship, but is passionate enough about his event to keep it going.

“I knew I wanted to do something with basketball, because I played basketball my entire life and it’s something I love,” said McMonagle.

However, choosing a cause initially posed a challenge because McMonagle wanted to choose one that would motivate him to succeed.

“I just remember seeing the Make-A-Wish series on ESPN and that’s really kind of what got me started with Make-A-Wish,” said McMonagle.

McMonagle’s love for sports and passion for the mission of Make-A-Wish made selecting the foundation an easy decision.

“For me going into it, I knew if I really wanted to turn out a good project it had to be something that I was motivated by and something I had to really get behind,” he said.

Last year’s event was a major success with around 20 teams involved, adding up to approximately 80 participants overall.

The event raised over $2,000 for Make-A-Wish.

This year, there will be some changes to the event, with McMonagle aiming to raise $10,000.

Changes include the addition of a women’s bracket in addition to the men’s bracket, and McMonagle also hopes to add more sponsors this year to reach his ambitious goal.

Dr. Neeley Shaw, instructor of business administration, assigned the service learning project to McMonagle last year and said there were few restraints on students choosing where they wanted to go with the project.

Shaw contributes the success of McMonagle’s first project and his continuation of it this year to his character and drive for success.

“I think it was a success just because of Derek’s personality,” said Shaw. “Just because that’s the type of person he is. He’s always going to be successful, he’s not going to let himself fail and he put the time and the effort into it that is required.”

Shaw said her goal with the class is to show students they can have an impact with a service project in the business field.

“I’d love for every student to strive to make as much of a difference as [McMonagle] did and to continue to do these projects year after year, like he is,” she said.

However, according to McMonagle, the project didn’t come together overnight.

“This is really something in the Spring semester last year that I was putting all of my hours in the day doing, after homework and everything like that,” said McMongale. “I really wanted to make it a successful event.”

A major factor of McMonagle’s success is his passion for the work he is doing.

“If you’re going to do something for service learning or you just want to do a project in general, do something you can really get behind,” he said. “Do something that really wakes you up in the morning to get after. I think that’s the biggest thing, because if you can go in with a ton of energy and motivation to really make it the best event, I don’t think there’s anything that you can’t do, and that is really my main point.”

McMonagle’s second tournament is scheduled for Saturday May 12, and will take place at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School.