This past year, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center awarded four students with the Coleman Entrepreneurship Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship provides recognition and financial assistance to undergraduate students enrolled in entrepreneurship courses at DePaul University. Eligible students must be in good academic standing and exhibit financial need.
In this blog post, we feature three DePaul students who received this scholarship. What inspired their entrepreneurial spirits and how do they plan to make the most of this opportunity? Read their stories below.
Mary Buxton (Management Information Systems ’24, WI)
Originally from Wisconsin, I always knew I wanted to move to Chicago. Now, I’m a junior studying Management Information Systems and hoping to get my master’s at DePaul upon graduating in 2024.
Entrepreneurship has been a part of my life since as early as I can remember. At the age of five, I was setting up makeshift lemonade and Girl Scouts stands on the sidewalk, learning customer service skills and the value of making your own dollar (though at the time I was just thinking about having funds for the ice cream truck and getting Scout badges). In high school I spent my summers working for two family friends’ restaurants, and today I work closely with founders at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center and have business ideas of my own. Throughout my life I have been surrounded by business owners, and it has taught me that entrepreneurship is about so much more than making a lot of money. Entrepreneurship is about using your creativity, passion and skillset to fill a need in the market, however big or small.
With my scholarship, I plan to explore entrepreneurship further and develop my business ideas by studying abroad with my former professor and current boss – Coleman Entrepreneurship Center Executive Director Bruce Leech – in London this year. Don’t tell him I said this, but Bruce has been my biggest entrepreneurial inspiration, and I would not want to work with and learn from anyone else. I’m grateful to Bruce and also Maija Renko, the Coleman Chair of Entrepreneurship at the college, not only for this scholarship, but for always believing in me and fostering such an innovative community at DePaul that I’m honored to be a part of.
Kealey Kostos (Entrepreneurship ’25, OH)
When most people think of entrepreneurship, they probably think of an individual starting a business and taking on financial risk. Although I agree with that definition, I believe entrepreneurship has a larger meaning. I see entrepreneurship as capitalizing on an opportunity and creating a positive change in the process not just for yourself but for the people around you.
My passion for entrepreneurship sparked when I was in high school working for a small family-owned business. The two owners did not come from fortunate backgrounds, but they were determined to make better lives for themselves. They both followed their passions and hustled in order to run a successful business. Not only did they make a better life for themselves, but they bettered the lives of their employees and their community. Working at this small business was very inspiring for me and my own entrepreneurial aspirations. I was able to see that anything is possible as long as you put in the work and are authentic to your purpose.
I want to pursue entrepreneurship as a career because I want to unlock my potential to create a positive change in my life and in the lives of those around me. Entrepreneurship is all about taking the initiative, putting in the work, and having a positive impact on your community even when the odds seem to be against you.
I will be using this money that was generously given to me from the Coleman Entrepreneurship Endowed Scholarship to fund my education at DePaul. I want to reinvest this money back into my education to help lessen the burden of my student loans so that I will be more easily able to achieve financial freedom post-graduation.
I am currently the president of DePaul CEO, a student organization for current and aspiring entrepreneurs. DePaul CEO works closely with the CEC to host events and meetings for our members. Additionally, I am co-chair of finance/treasurer for Net Impact, a student organization that focuses on promoting social, environmental, and economical sustainability in enterprise creation.
Valerie Sanchez (Public Relations and Advertising ’24, IL)
Entrepreneurship is a way of life for me; it is a mindset that I have carried with me since I was a child. It means that if I work hard enough, I can accomplish all my dreams and desires. Entrepreneurship makes me feel independent and capable and has taught me to never give up on my dreams.
I am very passionate about entrepreneurship because it is something that has been passed down to me from my past generations. I remember as a young child, my grandmother who is Mexican and doesn’t speak English would go around our neighborhood selling tamales. She would take me with her at six years old to translate for her. We would go door to door, house to house, selling tamales until we ran out. To this day there are people that come to my house asking for my grandma and her tamales, and to this day, I channel my grandma’s entrepreneurial spirit to accomplish all my goals. My grandma never went to school and didn’t even know how to write, yet she never let that become a limitation on what she could do and how she would do it. My grandma calls it a form of survival, and though she doesn’t know what the term entrepreneurship means, she will always be the most influential entrepreneur in my life.
With this money, I will be able to pay for my tuition and continue pursuing higher education as a first generation Mexican-American.
Applications for this scholarship are open every fall on DePaul’s Scholarship Connect website. Learn more here.