Ursinus College Teacher to Receive Leavey Award for Excellence

By Kevin Ferris

Maureen Cumpstone of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is one of eight business teachers from across the country named as winners ofthe 2019 Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education. The award-winning programs represent schools from Florida to Alaska, and many points in between. The educators are based in elementary schools, high schools, and universities.

The Leavey Award recipients will be honored at a dinner and award
ceremony from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 18, on the campus of
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, 1601 Valley Forge Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460.

Cumpstone is the entrepreneur in residence at Ursinus College’s The U-Imagine
Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies and the
college’s representative to the Philadelphia Regional
Entrepreneurial Educators Consortium (PREEC). The U-Imagine Center,
established in 2013, is a crucial part of Ursinus College’s mission to develop a
campus-wide entrepreneurial spirit. The Center encourages students of
all majors to think like an entrepreneur and turn their ideas into
reality while developing lifelong skills such as leadership, time
management, teamwork, and negotiation.

Cumpstone, a 1979 graduate of Ursinus, launched Sorella Rose Bar & Grille, a
Flourtown restaurant and catering business in 1995. The enterprise
later expanded to include event planning and a second location in
Avalon, N.J. She was named Ursinus’ entrepreneur in residence in
2016.

The Leavey Awards, administered by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey
Foundation, based in Los Angeles, and Freedoms Foundation at Valley
Forge, were created in 1977 to reward educators across the country
who develop innovative ways of teaching students about the free
enterprise system. Each winner receives a $7,500 award. In four
decades, more than 600 teachers – from elementary school to college
level – have received over $4 million in prize money.

The other 2019 Leavey Award winners are:

• Dr. Margaret Brooks, of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, for her “Economics of Innovation” course.
• Sergio de Alba, of R.M. Miano Elementary in Los Banos, California, for “The Family Farm Business Education Program.”
• DeAnna Donahue and Annette Greenslade, of Allen High School in Texas, for the Blu Community Bistro, a student-run café open to the public.
• Linda Hulen, of Bowman Elementary in Anchorage, Alaska, for “Student Entrepreneurship: On the Path to Free Enterprise in Alaska” and the student-run business 907 Bobcats.
• Shawn Kelly, of Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Florida, for the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.”
• April Porter, of Williams Field High School in Gilbert, Arizona, for the “Make the Money” series.

“More than ever, our nation and its economy need entrepreneurs,
small-business owners, and business visionaries,” said David
Harmer, president and CEO of Freedoms Foundation. “These leaders
are coming from the classrooms of Leavey Award recipients. People are
now realizing what Thomas and Dorothy Leavey knew 42 years ago –
teaching future generations to develop an appreciation, knowledge and
enthusiasm for the American free enterprise system is essential to
ensuring our nation’s continued success.”

In addition to the dinner and award presentation, the Leavey Award
recipients will share the challenges and successes of their
award-winning programs with fellow business teachers during the
week-long graduate seminar Innovative
Entrepreneurs, Dynamic Economy, on the campus of Freedoms
Foundation.

For more information about the Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education at Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, contact Carolyn Santangelo, Senior Director of Chapter and Partner Relations at 610-933-8825 ext. 234 or at csantangelo@ffvf.org.

https://www.freedomsfoundation.org/awards/leavey-awards/