Matthew Pacheco '22

Matthew Pacheco received $2,500 in startup funding for his team’s venture, “Tutor it Forward.” “Tutor it Forward” is a one-for-one tutoring service that exists to democratize tutoring and break the long-lasting impacts of poverty on students in Palm Beach County. After graduation Matthew was hired as a research associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Matthew had this to say regarding the Kenan Program, “participating in the Kenan Program made a lasting impact on the way I approach community engagement. Learning from true community leaders like Dr. Steigenga and Dr. Strain helped me understand that global impact begins at the local scale.”

Elizabeth Pino '21

Kenan Scholar

Elizabeth Pino and Sarah Hemmen (not pictured) co-founded, Princesses Against Cancer, a costumed character party company designed to bring smiles to children fighting disease. Volunteers dress as beloved characters, including Disney princesses, visit children in hospitals and other care facilities to lift their spirits and make them feel like royalty. This service is provided at no cost to the kids or their families. “We aim to bring a smile in the face of adversity,” said Elizabeth, “because no family, no child, should have to fight for their life alone.”

A 501(c)(3) organization, Princesses Against Cancer has traditionally used charitable donations and fundraising to support its mission. However, through the Kenan Program, this unique nonprofit is beginning to explore a one-for-one model, using birthday parties for healthy kids to fund hospital visits for sick kids. In this way, Princesses Against Cancer brings joy not only to paying clients but also to children and families who, feeling the financial stress of chronic illness and long-term hospital stays, might not be able to afford such a party.

Amanda Barstow ‘20

Kenan Scholar and $5,000 winner of FAU Business Plan Competition

Amanda Barstow received a seed grant to launch her social enterprise, Daisy, which is designed to provide feminine hygiene products to at-risk clients, particularly homeless women.
 “I have always been interested in doing something that could address one of the many social problems facing women” said Barstow.  “Through the Kenan Social Engagement program, I was able to learn more about how social ventures can both do well and do good.” Structured as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Daisy facilitates the donation of feminine hygiene products from corporate sponsors to provide comprehensive “period kits” to organizations that typically serve these women-in-need such as homeless resource centers, food pantries, and domestic violence shelters.  

David Gorski  ‘19

Kenan Scholar and $10,000 winner of FAU Business Plan Competition

David Gorski’s social venture, Life-Metrics: a mobile app platform that establishes quantitative connections between health/usage data and psychological/physical well-being.  By bringing together a wealth of data already available with cutting-edge machine learning, Life-Metrics aims to create a world in which we all know precisely how our habits affect our lives. “It feels great knowing that people believe in my vision,” Gorski said. “A lot of the work of an entrepreneur is long nights without much direct reward so it’s great to see people, especially other professionals and entrepreneurs, respond so positively to your work.

R.J. Muniz '18

“The Kenan program accelerated the trajectory of my social venture [Southpaw Prince]. I came into the Kenan program with a passion for sports and helping children, and I left the program with a sustainable social enterprise that will now be able to make a genuine impact in the local community.

Melanie Oates '16

Kenan Scholar
“The Kenan Social Entrepreneurship Program is an excellent opportunity for students to learn more about both the non-profit and business sectors while helping address societal issues within their own community. While taking part in the program I was able to learn the ins and outs of the non-profit system and work directly with local non-profit organizations to combat the issue of hunger in Palm Beach County. It also provided me with invaluable business-planning skills that I will be able to utilize in a wide variety of settings throughout the rest of my life. All in all, this program is an amazing experience for students of any background or concentration to learn more about their community and how to productively engage with it.”

Ben Arsali '15

Kenan Scholar and winner of the $15,000 start-up funding
"Getting involved in the world of social entrepreneurship has really changed my life".

Getting involved in the world of social entrepreneurship has really changed my life. Due to the generous grant from the Kenan Foundation, I was able to kick-off the non-profit landscaping company that I proposed in my business plan. The first step into breaking the cycle of homelessness is employment. This company has already begun to change lives in the community. We are projected to employ 25-50 formerly homeless individuals within three years.—Read more about Ben Arsali's story here.

Lauren Koff ’14 and Cristina Rodriguez ’14

Cristina Rodriguez ’15 and Lauren Koff ’15 co-founded Mind&Melody, Inc., a non-profit organization that implements music programs for individuals with neurological impairments with the help of the Kenan Social Engagment Program. Now, with more than 150 volunteers, Mind&Melody is conducting its music education program at six wellness centers throughout Florida. Two of those are in Miami-Dade — Easter Seals South Florida and My New Oasis — and five have begun paying for the service. The program is meant to enrich the lives of those being treated for dementia, Alzheimer’s and other similar neurological conditions.

Mind&Melody volunteers teach those with an interest in music to play instruments, then play along with them.“If we can just make people’s lives easier, or bring some joy through that entire process, it’s worth it,” Rodriguez said. The organization was recently profiled in the Miami Herald for its growth, to more than 150 volunteers and programs in six wellness centers throughout Florida. “If we can just make people’s lives easier, or bring some joy through that entire process, it’s worth it,” said Rodriguez. Read more.

Melissa Corichi

Kenan Scholar
Let it Rot is an organic waste recycling company that uses vermiculture (the farming of earthworms) to produce garden products out of garbage. Let it Rot was founded by Melissa Corichi, in 2015 as part of the Kenan Social Engagement Program. Under the guidance of Dr. Timothy Steigenga and Dr. Christopher Strain, Melissa was able to write and develop a viable business plan that not only benefits the community and environment, but also generates profits. Currently, Let it Rot recycles 500 pounds of food and paper based waste materials by using it as a feed stock for its colony of earthworms. Melissa has plans to expand the operation by securing a 1/5 acre of land and began construction on a new worm farming facility in August of 2016, which will make Let it Rot one of the largest worm farms in the state of Florida.

Jaspar Leahy '15

Kenan Scholar
My time as a Kenan Social Engagement scholar was a formative period of my academic and professional life. Before I took the Social Entrepreneurship course, I had a vague idea about how I could make my interests in social action and international studies combine, but it was during that time that I decided to pursue an applied thesis working on educational strategies to reach former child soldiers in Liberia. After graduation, I worked in the field of refugee resettlement and have continued on to a Master’s program at Teachers College, Columbia University in International Educational Development.

Thinking back to my time as a Kenan scholar, I cannot emphasize enough how important it was for me as a young woman to be in a space where I was able to think about alternate methods of conducting business. Even though I had always grown up believing in the equality of women and men, I was still socialized to think that business was a men's field, and most of what I heard or experienced in the field was based on principles of competition and capital gain which were not things that motivated me. Once I began to learn about social entrepreneurship, my attitudes towards business began to change. I recognized that I appreciated what business could accomplish if you moved beyond the bottom line to a double or triple bottom line. Sustainability and meeting a social need motivate me in a way that competition and capital gain could not. I learned that business skills are incredibly useful in any endeavor, especially when coupled with a desire to create meaningful social impact.

Megan Keith '14

Kenan Scholar
”My project focused on developing a guide to local health and transportation services for members of the immigrant community. My goal was to develop an easy-to-read guide written in Spanish that would allow members of the immigrant community to quickly find the health service best suited to their needs. By working with the health education staff at El Sol, Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center, I was able to survey members of the community and ask them what information would be most helpful to them. El Sol has since been able to develop more detailed information to be distributed among Jupiter’s immigrant community, creating a healthier and safer environment throughout the city.” –Megan Geiger Keith graduated from the Honors College in 2014 and received her M.A. in Religious Studies from UF in 2016. She currently works as an admissions recruiter for the Wilkes Honors College of FAU.