The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Sophomore in business management Tucker Jessip has been elected to the National Student Advisory Council for Enactus USA.
Jessip serves as the president of the Enactus chapter at Pitt State. According to their Gorilla Engage page, Enactus is “a community of students, and academic and business leaders, committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to create a better, more sustainable world.” Jessip is a graduate of Frontenac High School in Frontenac, Ks. where he held various leadership positions including student body president. In addition to his studies, Jessip is also a member of the Pride of the Plains Marching Band.
Jessip’s position on the council allows him to advise and interact with Enactus chapters all throughout the United States.
“It’s a community of students from different Enactus teams across the nation and we get to work with basically the heads of Enactus chapters,” Jessip said. “We basically help with various programs and events that Enactus USA provides. There’s this whole kickoff week where Enactus students can learn different skills to help with their organization and with project implementations…”
Enactus is an abbreviation for “En”trepreneurship, “ACT”ion, and “US.” Jessip was initially elected President during his freshman year when numbers were down in the organization due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jessip.
“I initially heard about Enactus from my advisor, and I just thought it was a fantastic organization,” Jessip said. “Second semester came around and it was just three of us talking and figuring things out. We knew we’d need someone to step up and lead the group and I was more than willing to take on the president spot… We’ve got a new faculty advisor, and we’ve got several projects coming up…”
Jessip also said that his interest in sustainability comes from the environmental situations that were highlighted in one of his environmental classes his freshman year.
“Obviously, we (Enactus) want to help create a better, cleaner world for everybody,” Jessip said. “The UN (United Nations) back in 2015 introduced 17 sustainability goals to be completed by the year 2030 and Enactus chapters have taken on these goals across the world… Any project that Enactus starts has to contribute to one of those 17 goals…”
Jessip, in addition to his bachelor’s degree, is working towards a certificate in sustainability.
“Sustainability is right up my alley,” Jessip said. “My first semester here, I took Environmental Life Science and it really highlighted some of the problems going around environmentally… We’ve got to fix the planet or else we’re screwed.”
Jessip also said that one of his career goals in the realm of sustainability is to work in the solar power industry.
“I think a big problem that we are facing is where we get our energy from because obviously, we’re using up a lot of non-renewables and we’re going to run out soon,” Jessip said. “We’re causing a lot of environmental impact especially with climate change and one thing I’ve looked into is that we get a ton of energy from the Sun. Millions of millions of kilowatts fall on the Earth and we just let it bounce off and go away. I feel like there’s a lot of potential to harness and use it without causing environmental damage… I kind of want to look into that as I move past my college career…”