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BOLIVAR, Mo. â ±«Óătv joined with Enactus USA to pay tribute to recently retired Enactus CEO and 1979 ±«Óătv graduate Dr. Alvin Rohrs at a tree dedication ceremony Monday, Oct. 31, on the Bolivar campus.
In 1982, as a member of the ±«Óătv faculty, Rohrs was assigned to lead ±«Óătvâs Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), now Enactus, by then-president Dr. Jim Sells.
"SIFE was basically dying,â current ±«Óătv president Dr. C. Pat Taylor said. âWe had a recession in the early â80s and business wasnât very good, contributions were drying up and basically, the fledgling organization looked like it would be history.
ⱫÓătv stepped in and former president, Dr. Sells, one of our university heroes, saw the need. He assigned a junior staff member to help with this project, and look at what itâs become â an international organization â because of Dr. Rohrsâ leadership.â
When Rohrs assumed his role at ±«Óătv, there were only 18 SIFE organizations across various
campuses in the United States.
âSIFE needed a new champion â someone to take up the mission and move it forward,â said Dr. Troy Bethards, dean of the Robert W. Plaster College of Business and Computer Science. âThey needed a visionary â someone who would share what the organization could do. And just as important, what the organization could become.
âAnd they needed commitment. They needed someone who would work to positively impact the lives of others. SIFE was also looking for a leader. Someone others could rally behind.â
Rohrs was that person, and more, for 34 years.
âUnder his leadership, heâs grown the organization from 18 teams to over 1,700 teams,â Bethards said. âThat is phenomenal growth. At the same time, he went from operating an organization in a few states in the United States to operating in over 36 different countries.â
The organization, which changed its name from SIFE to Enactus in 2012, and whose world headquarters are located in Springfield, Mo., âis an international nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action,â according to its website.
Under the guidance of Enactus and educators, and with the support of business leaders, university students create development projects designed to not only impact and empower their community, but themselves and the world.
âIâve seen it first-hand, here at ±«Óătv,â Bethards said. âWe see it with our students that engage in Enactus. They participate in Enactus in an attempt to impact other peopleâs lives, and at the same time, their own life is impacted. And they emerge more as a servant leader than they were when they started.
âThat is one of the key components of our mission at ±«Óătv. We are developing students to be servant leaders in a global society. Enactus certainly helps us achieve that. But that doesnât just happen at this institution. That happens at over 1,700 institutions around the world.â
And that reach wouldnât have been possible with Rohrsâ leadership.
âWhen I reflect on that and where weâre standing, it couldnât have happened without you (±«Óătv),â Alex Perwich, president of Enactus USA, said. âGod only knows where we would be today had it not been for the intersection of that point and time here on this campus with Alvin.â
The gift of the blaze maple tree was the perfect choice to honor Rohrsâ legacy.
âI think this is incredibly fitting,â Perwich said. âWe thought the first place, the genesis of the organization, wasnât the headquarters building; it may or may not endure. This place (±«Óătv) will endure, and this place had something to do with its (Enactus) foundation and with its starting.
âWhat he has grown is a solid foundation with really deep roots and itâs incumbent upon us that are still with Enactus, going forward, to take it and keep it relevant as we move forward.â
Rohrs said he is honored that the tree was planted at ±«Óătv, and in front of the Robert W. Plaster College of Business and Computer Science, named for one of his closest and dearest friends.
âI want to thank Alex and the Enactus USA team for the gift of this maple tree,â Rohrs said. âI really am fond of trees â from âGodâs Mighty Oakâ (a reference to a play in which his wife, Elizabeth, performed during her time at ±«Óătv) to the ones on my farm.
âThe maple tree is one of my favorites because in the fall, which is one of my favorite times of the year, itâs always a beautiful red â a crimson red.
âIf you think about the maple tree and you think about all these other trees, the reality is that the red doesnât show up in the fall, or doesnât start in the fall. The red is a color that is always there. But in the spring, the chlorophyll starts filling up those leaves and they turn green and theyâre green all summer just like every other tree. And then when the chlorophyll stops, the leaves go back to what is their real, true color, and what makes them unique and different from all the other trees.â
Rohrs then offered a challenge to ±«Óătvâs Enactus students.
âWhat in your life is chlorophyll that is keeping you from being the distinct, colorful color you really are versus what you are trying to make people think you are?
âStay true to your true color. Find your true color. That is how you can follow your passion.â
For more information about Enactus, contact Nathan Wright, assistant professor of business administration and Enactus advisor, at (417) 328-1753 or nwright@±«Óătvniv.edu.
CUTLINES: 1. Dr. Alvin Rohrs thanks Enactus USA for the retirement gift of a blaze maple tree. 2. Dr. Alvin Rohrs (third from left) gathers with a group of Enactus students and faculty near his blaze maple tree, which is planted in front of the Gene Taylor National Free Enterprise Center on ±«Óătvâs Bolivar campus.