Ursinus teacher to receive 2019 Leavey Award
Maureen Cumpstone of Ursinus College is one of eight business teachers from across the country named as winners of the 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 were honored at a dinner and award ceremony July 18 on the campus of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
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.