Initiative Category: Business
Joe Velderman ‘04 has always thrived in the world of technology. From the time he was 10 years old, he involved himself in his church by helping with computer-related needs during the worship service. When it came time to choose a college, he wanted to branch outside of his hometown of Holland, Mich. and decided to visit Trinity. “I felt at home within 10 minutes of being on campus,” Joe recalls.
Right away during his freshman year, Joe signed up for courses focused on computer science and information services. After breezing through a few classes, he knew this was the right fit.
Four years later, he graduated from Trinity with a major in business administration, with a heavy concentration in information systems. Joe found work in the computer services department on campus when he was a student. In addition to helping answer day-to-day technology-related questions, Joe assisted in taking student portfolios and digitizing them into a webpage as a tool for prospective employers after graduation.
Since graduation, Joe has dedicated himself to furthering businesses’ missions through tech support. For the past two years, he has been trying to solve a problem related to the 72 million Baby Boomers in the United States: the lack of caregivers. Considering Gen X is comprised of about 40 million people, there’s a growing concern over who will care for the older generation. Joe has a vision to make the last 10-15 years of an adult’s life the best it can be. So, he is developing technology solutions that will help efficiently monitor older adults as they age in their homes. Using smart home technology–such as smart speakers, smart light switches, smart showers, and smart thermostats–he’s working toward creating a smart home package to help in the aging process, with the goal to bring something to market by October 2019.
“The good Lord has gifted me as a strategic thinker, looking into the future and figuring out what challenges exist and how to solve those,” he says. Joe attributes these skills to the training he received at Trinity. A lot of his strategic skills weren’t necessarily learned in the classroom. Rather, his entire college experience played into the businessman he is today.
Currently living in Indiana with his wife and 3-year-old son, Joe advocates for Trinity as much as he can. “I’ve often told people who ask about Trinity that it’s a very special place where great community and authentic Kingdom-building work happens.” And that’s just what Joe is doing: helping build the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Trinity’s entrepreneurial spirit can be found everywhere on campus, and it stretches far beyond Palos Heights. One example is the Innovation Club, which hosts meetings and events throughout the academic school year.
The Innovation Club wrapped up a busy year, according to co-president Haley Heeg ’20. That included a field trip to downtown Chicago on April 8. About 20 Trinity students toured 1871, the number-one university affiliated tech incubator in the world, where Trinity is a University Partner. The group also visited two other incubators, The Chicago Connectory and Relish Works.
The group on the field trip represented a variety of majors, which is a hallmark of Innovation Club, Heeg said. “We have people from all different types of programs, from computer science to nursing, along with business majors,” Heeg said.
About 25-30 people typically participate in Innovation Club meetings, which are held twice a month in Fusion 59, Trinity’s on-campus innovation center.
Heeg served as co-president with Josh York ’20, and the two plan to continue leading Innovation Club. They are already planning events for next year, Heeg said.
Trinity business major Mady Zula ’21 was “surprised but excited” when she and her team of seven students from Chicago-area colleges took first place in Ernst & Young (EY)’s Diversity Challenge at 1871, Chicago’s technology and entrepreneur center. Her team’s winning concept centered on an app they designed to solve a real-world problem for global professional services firm EY: how to attract a more diverse job applicant base.
Zula and 12 other Trinity students took part in the event, held April 5 and 6 at 1871 headquarters in Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart.
The competition challenged more than 100 students from other Chicago area colleges and universities. Zula learned about the competition through Trinity’s Fusion 59 entrepreneur club, and was attracted by the opportunity to network with other business majors. But she admits to being intimidated at first, because she was the only Trinity student on her team, which also included students from Loyola University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul University, and the University of Chicago.
But intimidation soon turned to excitement as she and her teammates began analyzing the issue at hand.
“EY is already doing a great job with diversity,” she said. That made the project more challenging. Teams had 24 hours to brainstorm solutions and develop a presentation to the panel of EY judges in a “Shark Tank”-style concept pitch.
Zula’s team built their solution around a prototype mobile application that was designed to encourage undergrad applicants age 18-25 from diverse backgrounds to apply for jobs at EY and prepare them for an interview. The proposal included a home page, logo, and a detailed rollout plan.
App users earn points at different stages of usage, from signup to taking quizzes and participating in workshops offered by EY. The app also enables student applicants to upload their resumes and communicate directly with EY staff through email. “We wanted the app to be similar to LinkedIn, but be specific to EY,” Zula said.
During the judging process, she and her teammates discovered that all of the other teams had similar ideas of how EY could broaden applicant diversity, but none had developed an app and a solid plan to launch it. In fact, her team laid the groundwork so well that EY could actually launch the app in real life, she said.
Team collaboration was important, and members were grouped by major. Zula’s team included tech, marketing, and management majors, so all disciplines were represented.
The days were long: The Saturday brainstorming session ran from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Sunday pitch session from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. But although it was “extremely exhausting,” it was also “a lot of fun,” and the team format made it easy to form strong friendships with her fellow teammates.
Zula double majors with management and marketing, and events like the 1871 experience are helping her to learn what she’s good at and what’s fun for her. “It was an incredible weekend! I learned a lot and was able to connect with other students in Chicagoland,” she said.
Along with Zula’s team winning the overall title, Soraya Limon, a social work major, participated on a team that won its division.
The 1871 team was also impressed with what participating students brought to the table. “Our entire community cannot stop raving about their tremendous efforts, knowledge and eagerness to get involved with the tech and entrepreneurship communities here in Chicago,” said Jessica Childress of 1871.
Trinity Students from a range of majors participated in the EY Diversity Challenge in April.
Nolani Schnabel- Entrepreneurial Management
Emily Schmidt- Accountancy
Mady Zula-Marketing
Josh Olson-Marketing
Mike Melody-Biblical Studies
Pat Hogan-Marketing
Dan Reiling- Computer Science
Ariel Love-Psychology
Kailah Price-English
Alec Visser-Computer Science
Joseph Wagner- Computing
Kynasia Hughlett- Communication Arts
Soraya Limon-Social Work
Students from the Adult Business Program presented their final project: The Marketing Plan. Students formed into groups to create a marketing plan for a product or service of their choosing.
The products and services included Starbucks, Nicole’s Sandwich Shop, Vitalant, and Ford. It was a great ending to an engaging class on Marketing Management.
Congratulations on a job well done on the final!
Take advantage of internship opportunities and polish your communication skills. That is some of the advice that Kyle Ten Pas ’98, partner at KPMG, gave to accounting students in Assistant Professor of Accountancy Mike Chitavi’s classes during a recent videoconference.
Throughout the discussion, Ten Pas, who is now an audit partner in the Des Moines office of the global accounting firm, offered practical tips, answered questions, provided encouragement, and reflected on his days at Trinity.
Students from several classes, including Principles of Accounting; Intermediate Accounting; and Taxes I, had the opportunity to attend the videoconference and ask questions.
A native of Waupun, Wis., Ten Pas took an accounting class in high school and continued on that path at Trinity. “I never second-guessed my career, he said.” While a sophomore, he was offered a job at Ozinga, where he was able to gain experience in accounts payable, reconciling accounts, and other areas. “It was an incredible opportunity,” he said. “Take advantage of these types of opportunities,” he urged students. “And really work on your communication skills,” he added
Ten Pas said the courses he took at Trinity helped prepare him for his future career. “From an educational perspective, I was prepared for everything I needed in my skill set.”
Along with classes and internships, Ten Pas also talked about playing soccer for the College and being roommates with Josh Lenarz ’98, currently Trinity’s head women’s soccer coach.
Ten Pas married a fellow Trinity graduate, Gina, who is originally from Pella, Iowa. After working in Chicago for several years, they moved to Iowa to be closer to her family. While he is based in Des Moines, he said he enjoys the opportunity to travel for work “At KPMG, I get to work with people around the world and the country,” he said.
Throughout his career, he has remained in the field of public accounting, with a particular focus on financial services companies. “I’m very passionate about public accounting,” he said.
Thanks to her recent participation in the prestigious Mary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program, accounting major Indira Escalante ’19 has secured an internship at Deloitte, made valuable connections, and gained a better understanding of the accounting industry.
Escalante, who is a native of Honduras and a graduate of Hoffman Estates [Ill.] High School, was one of only 25 students accepted into three-day program, which took place in January. The annual event, which is organized by the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) and sponsored by the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois’ Mary T. Washington Wylie Opportunity Fund and other private firms and public accounting firms, is designed to launch minority college students into the accounting profession.
“I’m grateful for the team that worked really hard to support us through our application process, through the program, and after the program,” said Escalante, who first heard about the program from Dr. Lynn Spellman White, professor of accounting. “I learned valuable information about job opportunities in accounting, was given the opportunity to start networking and build relationships with people in the field, and I learned a lot about what I need to start working on to prepare for the CPA exam and my career.”
According to White, Escalante is the first Trinity student to be accepted into the program. “Indira is a fantastic student, and this is an incredible opportunity,” White said. “She has the heart to serve in God’s kingdom, and every industry needs accountants and those with financial literacy.”
Throughout the program, Escalante and other participants stayed in downtown Chicago and attended workshops and sessions at the ICPAS headquarters. “Each day, we heard from a panel of professionals in public accounting and accountants in private organizations. We also had presentations by guest speakers from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sikich, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Crowe Horwath, Abbott, and DePaul University on topics about resume building, interview skills, business etiquette, CPA exam preparation, working styles and skills, mentorship, and internship expectations and preparation. At the end of the program, the participants got to interview with three to four recruiters from various public accounting firms for accounting internships.”
Escalante and the other participants also learned more about Wylie, the first female African-American CPA in the United States. In 1939, Wylie founded her own firm, known today as Washington, Pittman & McKeever. “We learned about her dream of seeing African American and other minority students succeed as accountants. Due to systematic racism and sexism, it was very challenging for her to succeed in a field with a predominant white, male population. Her story is very inspiring to me,” Escalante said.
Participating in the program has already led to an internship, she said. “One of my interviewers at the program works at Deloitte. A few days after the program, I was contacted by the recruiter from Deloitte, who had given a presentation at the program. I was given the opportunity to be interviewed by the firm again,” she said. Escalante recently found out she has been accepted into Deloitte’s summer internship program, known as the Discovery Internship. “I know that this will definitely prepare me well for a career in accounting,” she said.
At Trinity, our students get to experience a small college campus with big city opportunities. And Trinity’s relationship with Future Founders and our university partnership with 1871, the world’s top university-affiliated startup incubator, located in downtown Chicago, exemplifies those opportunities.
Over the weekend, Future Founders, which is located in 1871, held its 2nd Annual Entrepreneurship U Awards to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation at Illinois colleges and universities. The awards recognize institutions and individuals that have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial accomplishments.
Trinity was honored to be named Future Founder’s Partner of the Year.
Students and faculty also received accolades:
–Entrepreneurial Student Leader of the Year: Gabe Soler
–Entrepreneurship Professor of the Year: Omar Sweiss, assistant professor of business, Honorable Mention for the second year in a row
–Student Startup of the Year (multiple winners): Ryan Hesslau for Above The Waves
Future Founders believes every youth can become an entrepreneur. They offer age-appropriate and stage appropriate programs to connect youth with mentors and help them build a toolkit of entrepreneurial skills. They are one of the leading organizations in the nation in entrepreneurial education and mentoring.
Trinity students also excelled at 1871’s recent Campus 1871 Weekend, where Soler and Josh York took second place in the pitch contest.
“What a week it has been,” said Prof. John Wightkin, assistant professor of business and department chair. “And it all happened because Trinity had the courage and faith to jump into the Chicagoland entrepreneurial world – particularly with Future Founders and 1871.”
Trinity Christian College’s partnership with 1871 Chicago offers so many benefits for our students. Here is a great article from our student Joshua York about the advantages and benefits of our partnership from his perspective.
Read more: https://blog.1871.com/campus-1871-4-lessons-from-a-student-entrepreneur
Trinity’s product management class, taught by Omar Sweiss, assistant professor business, and Dr. Jeff Nyhoff, professor of computer science, was challenged to engage in what seemed like an impossible task given the time constraints of a single semester: Gather market research and interviews, design and engineer, develop a marketing launch plan, and potentially build a prototype of a new kind of pump, “the Smart Pump.” The new product needed to be integrated with technology to provide key data on pump condition and inner workings.
Students in the class came from multiple disciplines, including biology, business, computer science and graphic design. The class self-organized into four business units and worked with mentors from Tuthill Pump Group in Alsip, Ill., to create a final product. In a culminating event, each team pitched its concept to a panel of Tuthill corporate executives on Monday, Dec. 6.
Teams were judged on the clarity of content, organization, and delivery, and all four teams delivered a quality, viable, and innovative solution. In the end, the panel awarded Team Pump It Up, which developed the “Pump Sense Add-on Component,” the winner.
Class participants agreed that the course taught valuable information in innovation, marketing, management, and team dynamics, as well as highlighting the value of multi-discipline input towards the goal. “Working with Tuthill Pump allowed for an innovative approach to student learning,” said Tom Iwema ’18, a student from the winning business unit.
“This is another example of how Trinity Christian College seeks to immerse students in real-world experiences solving business problems to equip them to innovate, compete, and succeed in God’s world,” said Sweiss.
Providing business solutions to social problems—that was the goal of the first Chicago Innovation Tournament, which Trinity hosted on Oct. 7, 2017. And the goal was met and surpassed, according to Prof. John Wightkin, assistant professor of business and chair of Trinity’s business department.
Seven teams from five different colleges competed in the Chicago Innovation Tournament, which addressed the issue of refugee resettlement in the United States.
“I was particularly excited to see how entrepreneurship can be used to make a difference in the world,” he said. “Entrepreneurship is not only about starting a business. It’s more about innovating, thinking creatively, experimenting, collaborating, problem solving, and presenting effectively. Using entrepreneurship as a way to look at the world, we can solve more than just business problems.”
Two experts spoke on the refugee resettlement problem: Kenneth Elisapana, Executive Director & Founder South Sudan Voices of Hope, and Alison E. Bell, Senior Resettlement Manager of World Relief DuPage/Aurora. Then, student teams had three hours to arrive at a solution and develop and practice their presentation. After two rounds of pitches, winners were selected. The team from the University of Chicago placed first, a team from Trinity placed second, and a team from Roosevelt University took third.
Marketing major Komaria Carpenter ’21 heard about the tournament in one of her business classes and decided it sounded like an interesting opportunity. She was partnered with other Trinity students, including Eden Foreman ’18, a communication arts major, Kailah Price ’19, an English major, and Jose Silva ’21, a music production major. “It was super fun, and it was great that not everyone was a business major,” said Carpenter.
Price agreed that the interdisciplinary nature of their team was one reason the team came in second place. “We all brought different perspectives.”
Silva encourages others to participate in next year’s tournament. “It was a great growing experience, and it allows you to think outside your personal bubble.”