National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship Awards $25,000 to Winners of "3 Minutes to Win It" Video Contest

Springfield, MA, May 13, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) has announced the five winners of its $25,000 national video competition. The “3 Minutes to Win It: Engaging Alumni Entrepreneurs” contest was open to community colleges throughout the country. Entrants were required to submit a three-minute video illustrating their most innovative ideas to involve alumni in campus initiatives that support entrepreneurship education. Funding for the contest was provided through a grant from the Coleman Foundation, a Chicago-based foundation that is a long-time supporter of entrepreneurship education and of NACCE.

First place went to the Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ. Acting director Jackeline Mejias Fuertes of the New Jersey Small Business Development Center at Brookdale Community College accepted the $10,000 cash prize on behalf of the college and is working with her colleague, Prof Barbara Boyington, to determine how best to use the funds. “We are considering expanding the activities of our annual Entrepreneurship Event held during Global Entrepreneurship week in November,” Fuertes said. “Another idea is to host a student business plan competition or possibly create a scholarship for the entrepreneur certificate program to provide support to student entrepreneurs starting their own businesses.”

The other contest winners and cash awards are:
2nd place: $6,000 - Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI
3rd place: $4,000 - York Technical College, Rock Hill, SC
4th place: $3,000 - Central Community College, Hastings, NE
5th place: $2,000 – Hawaii Community College, Hilo HI

“We congratulate the video winners and hope their videos will inspire other community colleges to seek out more engagement with their alumni entrepreneurs,” said NACCE Executive Director Heather Van Sickle. “Increased involvement by alumni entrepreneurs helps students and future business owners participating in credit or credit-free entrepreneurship education. Students gain from seeing role models and having mentors. Alumni have an opportunity to give back to their communities, and the college benefits from increased alumni involvement and presence on campus.”

The winning videos may be viewed at www.nacce.com. The funds awarded to the community colleges will be used to launch new alumni outreach initiatives, enhance current programs, improve existing alumni data, and encourage greater involvement by alumni business owners in entrepreneurship education at their alma maters.

About NACCE
NACCE, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is an organization of educators, entrepreneurs, and distinguished business development professionals providing quality programs and services in entrepreneurship education and serving as advocates of community-based entrepreneurship education. Founded in 2002, NACCE is at the heart of the “entrepreneurship movement.” Through membership, an annual conference and exhibition, quarterly journal, monthly webinars and podcasts, a dynamic list-serv, and other resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These programs and the courses advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member colleges. NACCE is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com. Follow NACCE on Twitter at @NACCE and like the NACCE – National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship page on Facebook.