Our first class of LeMoyne College MBA Students completed SE 604: Exploring 4P Social Entrepreneurship, a class which used our book Get To WOW!: Exploring Your Inner Social Entrepreneur as its textbook.
MBA Students learned how to integrate "4PSE for People, Profit, Planet, and Place" thinking into their business philosophies going forward. Some of these business students were already Social Impact-minded, but many were not. Their comments on the class and its impact shed light on GCSEN's teaching approach and our ability to truly effect change in student thinking, aspirations, behaviors, and career arc.
For some students, Social Entrepreneurship was a whole new idea: “I have not thought about myself becoming a social entrepreneur before this class. This section introduced me and helped me to explore my inner social entrepreneur by answering questions such as ‘Who am I? What do I know and need to know? Why am I? How do I act on it?’ and by looking at my core passions, strengths, and weaknesses… I figured out that I do enjoy helping others and I have the determination to stick with something even if it gets difficult."- S.S.
"Being a part of something that could help a community, or a greater entity while creating something you are proud of is fascinating. Social entrepreneurship encompasses the idea of innovation that can change the world and I am excited to continue in this thought process… This book was very helpful in understanding what it takes to be a social entrepreneur, how you can create your own social venture, and how you can increase your chances of success." – M.H.
Some students felt that the ideals of Social Entrepreneurship helped them rethink the role of money itself: “Professor Cas’s quote has made me realize that money isn’t everything even though we are all brought up in a world where all people care about is money. There are other factors you need to consider when starting a business and those factors are just as important as making money, if not even more important to me at least.” – M.F.
“I used to imagine myself as an individual that would graduate and secure a corporate job. However, as I expand my knowledge I am starting to realize that this plan does not align with who I am and why I am. The one thing I have been sure of since youth is that whatever venture I pursue I want to make a difference…I am confident that I want to become a social entrepreneur. This is the first career I could see myself sticking with long-term." – P.G.G.
Others felt the class taught them about themselves: “[Taking GCSEN’s SE 604, contributed to] realizing what I want to do has never been the issue but finding a way to reach this goal is my current problem. By consistently bettering myself and completing the smaller goals and tasks, I can slowly guide myself to where I want to be. Using each job and task as a learning experience, I am able to take something away from everything that I do. I believe I must maintain this mindset as I take different steps in my career and use each thing I learn to guide me to my goal.” – C.S.
“I have been really looking deep within myself while reading this book (Get To WOW!: Exploring Your Inner Social Entrepreneur.) I have discovered that yes I love helping people and I am able to do this in my current profession but I want more… This book has helped me believe that I can revolutionize the mental health system and the supports that are put in place for poor areas. I want to be that change." – J.R.
