Daytona State Awarded Entrepreneurial Education Grant

Daytona State College has received a $25,000 grant from Truist Foundation to expand the College’s Entrepreneurial Education and Training program, according to a media release. 

The Truist Foundation grant will allow the Entrepreneurial Education and Training (EET) program to establish a new initiative – Launch to Success. This initiative will focus on helping DSC student-entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market via a new makerspace outfitted with prototyping equipment, and Truist teammates will mentor students and help them transform their concepts into market-ready products, the release states. 

The grant will also support outreach and communications, events and student projects, provide new material for DSC’s Entrepreneurial Resource Center, and Truist will become a co-sponsor of DSC’s annual Falcon Talks event, where students give three-minute presentations on various aspects of the entrepreneurial empowerment process. 

“Our Entrepreneurial Education and Training program has cultivated a culture of entrepreneurism on our campuses and given students an incredible foundation to pursue their dreams,” said Dr. Tom LoBasso, President of Daytona State College, in the release. “Truist Foundation’s support for a makerspace and having their employees serve as mentors will go a long way toward helping our students achieve their goals.”

Since its start in 2021, DSC’s EET program has trained 57 faculty members to incorporate entrepreneurial curriculum into their classes. More than 1,600 students have been exposed to entrepreneurial mindset training, design thinking and financial management basics, according to the release.  

“We started this program to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and give professors the tools to integrate this training into their curricula,” said Dr. Sherryl Weems, Associate Vice President of the Mary Karl College of Workforce & Continuing Education, in the release. “Truist’s support will raise awareness of our entrepreneurial programming and guide the expansion of our reach on campus and in the community.”