SWAU Students Win First Place At Enactus Expo in Denver

by Cordie Troxell

Enactus team members and SWAU students Cassandra Braum (right) and Keila Cabrera (left) present before Social Venture Challenge at Enactus USA Expo in Denver on April 17.

Enactus team Color Palette won first place in the Social Venture Challenge at Enactus USA Expo April 17-19. Out of 49 projects, across all competitions, and 32 universities that participated in Expo, Color Palette, created by Keila Cabrera and Cassandra Braum, brought home the first-place trophy for Southwestern Adventist University’s Enactus Team.

Color Palette is a student-led initiative that bridges the gap between creative expression and mental health. The business produces specialized art kits with a clinical emphasis on therapy, designed to combat stress, anxiety, and loneliness. Beyond the kits themselves, the team facilitates in-person workshops within the community.

Color Palette did not originate in Enactus, but in an entrepreneurship class at SWAU, when Cabrera and Braum were freshmen, with a completely different plan for a business, before they even thought of creating Color Palette.

"We want to sell art kits with an emphasis on therapy," explains Cabrera. "The money from the kits goes toward workshops for hospitals, colleges, and nursing homes. It’s about raising awareness for mental health and creating community."

The road to the championship was not without its hurdles. The team had to balance technical logistics with their personal convictions. Because the final rounds of the Resolution Project, the awarding body for the Social Venture Challenge, initially conflicted with the Sabbath, the team prepared a video presentation in case they could not attend. However, the schedule was moved to Friday, allowing the team to pitch in person.

"I had to explain what Adventism was," says Cabrera, recalling a conversation with competition staff. "I was scared it would be a disadvantage, but we had to stick to our values. Even when we thought we couldn't be there on Saturday, we planned to go hiking instead. It felt like God was on our side."

Enactus is a non-profit organization that stands for “ENtrepreneurial ACTion for US” and its main goal is to bring together students, academics, and business leaders to use entrepreneurial action to create social and environmental impact. SWAU has been a part of Enactus since 1998, and during that time they have logged more than 13,000 volunteer hours, and earned over $84,500 in grants, project accelerators, and private donations since 2014.

“Sharing Color Palette at Enactus has been such a blessing; now that we won first place, it feels like one step closer to our dream of starting our own business!” says Cabrera.