MTSU Mondays: High school entrepreneurs showcased, Unity 'Hero' nominations opened

Here's the latest news from Middle Tennessee State University.

‘Unsung Hero’ nominations sought for 2023 Unity Luncheon at MTSU

Middle Tennessee State University’s Black History Month Committee is accepting nominations of community members to be honored at the 27th annual Unity Luncheon celebration in February 2023.

Coordinated through and hosted by the MTSU Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, the Unity Luncheon is an MTSU tradition that has been around since 1996 where we honor our “unsung heroes” within the community during the university’s Black History Month celebration.

The luncheon recognizes Black citizens who have contributed their time and talent for the enrichment and welfare of the entire community and the state of Tennessee.

This year, at least five honorees age 50 or older who have resided in the Middle Tennessee area for 20 years or more and who have made outstanding contributions to their community are selected from among submitted nominations. The nominees' contributions include the following categories: Education; Community Service; Advocate of Civility; Excellence in Sports; and Contribution to Black Arts. Sometimes multiple honorees are selected in individual categories.

Honorees will be recognized and receive their awards at the Unity Luncheon, which will be held on Feb. 8, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the MTSU Student Union Ballroom.

Deadline to submit nominations is Dec. 19. To nominate an individual and for category details, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/aahm/unity-awards-withform.php and submit a form electronically.

You may also visit https://www.mtsu.edu/aahm/unity-awards.php for more information regarding the Unity Luncheon and to access the list of past honorees. Or contact Danielle Rochelle, director of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, at 615-898-5812 or Danielle.Rochelle@mtsu.edu.

MTSU initiates 70 elite scholars into top honor society

Seventy of MTSU’s brightest students and three outstanding faculty members are now members of Middle Tennessee State University’s most prestigious honor society.

Meredith Dye, associate dean of the MTSU College of Liberal Arts, delivered the initiation address at Phi Kappa Phi’s fall 2022 initiation ceremony recently in the Tom Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall.

The primary objective of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the recognition and encouragement of superior scholarship in all academic disciplines. By drawing its membership from all fields of study within MTSU, Phi Kappa Phi also serves as a unifying force in higher education.

Dye’s main message to the initiates stemmed from the motto that is the foundation and heart of Phi Kappa Phi: “Let the love of learning rule humanity.”

Phi Kappa Phi Student Council President Emma Beard of Clinton, Tennessee, “loves the energy that a gathering of scholars seems to invite. When you pull together academicians from multiple departments, there is always plenty to discuss. That type of intellectual excitement characterized the evening. … This event was clearly a gathering of individuals who love to learn.”

“There is something special in these interactions that does not occur in a classroom setting,” said Beard, 22, a senior majoring in French and Global Studies and minoring in Spanish and Honors planning to graduate in May 2023. “That ‘something’ is perhaps made even more special because of the state the world has been in the last few years.”

For more information, contact Wendi Watts, MTSU chapter coordinator, at 615-904-8431 or Wendi.Watts@mtsu.edu.

MTSU showcases ingenuity of Midstate high schoolers at 7th entrepreneurship fair

High school freshmen Wyatt Petelle and Hunter Higgs from Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, eagerly jumped onto their laptop inside MTSU’s Student Union Ballroom recently to explain the concept behind their online engineering services business called EngiTex.

“We are an online engineering company that specializes in producing engineering designs for independent engineers,” Petelle said. “We provide online design tutorials, a space for you to upload and to have your design voted on, and a shop for those designs to be bought by our community.”

The two aspiring entrepreneurs were among more than 100 high school students representing 52 teams and 10 high schools in the Midstate area for Middle Tennessee State University’s seventh High School Entrepreneurship Fair, resuming Nov. 16 for the first time since 2019 following a pause because of the pandemic.

Hosted by the Department of Management and Pam Wright Chair of Entrepreneurship in the Jones College of Business, the fair was part of MTSU’s Global Entrepreneurship Week activities that also included a family business panel and guest speaker.

In addition to creating cardboard displays featuring their business concepts, competitors also had to develop written business plans that included a description of products and services, financial projections, marketing, target market and business support network.

Nine judges made up of MTSU faculty and area business leaders chose first- through fifth-place winners and gave out several special awards for categories such as best written plan, best elevator pitch and others. Each award came with a plaque and a voucher ranging from $50 to $100 for students to use for purchasing MTSU-branded items in the MTSU Phillips Bookstore on the first floor of the Student Union Building.

The fair was sponsored for the third time by the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Foundation. MTSU management professor Joshua Aaron, holder of the Pam Wright Chair of Entrepreneurship, said foundation representatives have expressed interest in continuing the relationship, a welcomed development for a showcase that also serves as a recruitment tool.

Jones College of Business students who major in Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Department of Management can earn a Bachelor of Business Administration.

“The mentality of doing your own thing in our culture right now is at an all-time high,” said Aaron, noting that the 82 MTSU freshmen undergraduates majoring in business administration and entrepreneurship is the most ever for the program.

For more information, contact Aaron at Joshua.Aaron@mtsu.edu or call 615-494-7708.

MTSU fall Stole Ceremony recognizes graduating student veterans continuing their journeys

Middle Tennessee State University seniors Dennisse Osorio-Sanchez and Jordan Kinsey have served their country through different branches of the military.

Kinsey chose the U.S. Navy, with interest in a medical area. With social work aspirations in mind, Osorio-Sanchez, an Alabama native signed with the U.S. Air Force and plans to commit to a full 20 years and retire as an officer.

They were among 28 MTSU student veterans attending the fall 2022 Graduating Veterans Stole Ceremony, held recently in the Miller Education Center atrium in advance of the students’ graduations on Saturday, Dec. 10, in Murphy Center when 56 student veterans received their degrees.

Stole ceremonies have become a three-times-a-year tradition for the host Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, home to more than 1,000 student veterans and family members.

One day after graduating, Kinsey, 27, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, resident, husband and father of three children, began the next chapter of his life as a registered nurse in the surgical ICU at the Nashville VA Medical Center. With the Navy, he was a hospital corpsman second class, helping prepare him for his new career.

“I’m going to be busy,” said Kinsey, who has been juggling academics and family and now will be managing the full-time job as he and wife, Jackie, raise Jordan Jr., 5, Benjamin, 4, and Noelle, seven months.

MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU Mondays