ATHENS, W.Va. – Several Concord University teammates and classmates worked together to improve the baseball field on campus while putting some of their classroom knowledge in entrepreneurship into practice. They saw a problem and went on to create a prototype of a product to help solve it.
Dr. Angela Addair, Director of Entrepreneurial Studies, said the problem they worked to solve was how to better hear their walk-up songs during home baseball games since the speaker system wasn’t performing at its peak. The gentlemen knew they could make some improvements, if nothing else, they could find a way to mount the speaker so perhaps that could be a start to the solution.
They approached Dr. Addair, their entrepreneurship professor, with an idea. She had just received a grant for entrepreneurial activities, and the program had purchased a 3D printer, so it was perfect timing. Their finished product was a new system with 3D rain guards to protect the investment from the weather.
“I was so excited to see them working so well together,” Dr. Addair said. “They put in their time and energy to see this through. It really will be an improvement.”
The group of Concord University student-athletes working on the project includes:
Keith Reed, a senior, from Riner, Va., majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management and minoring in entrepreneurship, who is an outfielder (#21) for the Concord Mountain Lions Baseball Team;
Juan Fortique, a senior, from Orlando, Fla., majoring in business administration with an emphasis in finance, who plays first base (#19) for Concord;
Brandon Bayne, a senior, from Las Vegas, Nev., majoring in business administration with an emphasis in accounting, who is an outfielder (#8) for the Mountain Lions;
Richard Ortiz, a graduate student, from Woodbridge, Va. majoring in health promotion, who is a right fielder (#16) for CU; and
Gabriel Garcia, a senior, from Caracas, Venezuela, majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management and marketing, and minoring in entrepreneurship who is a pitcher (#25) for Concord.
