BLAZING A PATH FOR NEURODIVERSE ENTREPRENEURS

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is Trulaske’s promoter of entrepreneurial knowledge, specifically for students who might not automatically consider the prospect of owning their own business. One area of focus is neurodiverse students, such as those with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia. Center Director Annette Kendall believes not only that entrepreneurship is an option for these students but that their conditions might also make them well suited to it. That’s why the center is tailoring programming and research to make college graduation more accessible to these students. “People with ADHD are hyperactive. They move fast. Some people with dyslexia are better at visualizing the big picture. Students on the autism spectrum, who are socially detached, are less likely to be influenced by dominant ideas,” Kendall says. “These students have gone through life like they have a checklist of deficits. But in the context of entrepreneurship, they are strengths.” For Bailey Stamp, kindness is its own reward. So, when the member of Trulaske’s Heartland Scholars Academy helped fellow students grieve for a member who died unexpectedly, she wasn’t hoping for anything in return. That altruistic spirit was all the more reason Stamp was the first recipient of the business school’s Roth Kindness Scholarship. “My hope is that if students can learn the importance of kindness before they head out into the world, they’ll be more successful,” says Leslie Guyor, BS BA ’90, whose gift founded what she hopes will be an annual scholarship. “And the world will become a friendlier, happier place.” Stamp was happy to receive the $1,000 award, and she intends to pay it forward. “It’s not hard to be kind,” Stamp says. “It doesn’t cost you anything. And people notice when you’re doing kind things.”