Five University of Nevada, Reno students were completely taken by surprise as their names were announced as winners of the Enactus Regional Competition in Anaheim, California, earlier this month.

"When they read our names, I had tears streaming down my face because we weren't expecting it at all," Stallar Lufrano-Jardine, the club's advisor and University College of Business director of career services, said. "I was blown away."

Enactus is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. At the University, the student organization is made up of students from the College of Business, Political Science Department and The Reynolds School of Journalism. Enactus students work throughout the year to make an impact in the local community through action-based projects tackling "issue areas" like fiscal education, hunger relief, healthcare and small business development. The University's student organization is one of 1,700 Enactus university programs throughout the world.

At Regional's, University students demonstrated the power of their community-service projects to a panel of 20 judges. Their 17-minute presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with the judges. During their presentation, students demonstrated the impact of local Enactus projects including Back to Basics, a small business advising and mentorship program; WeCycle, a community recycling program, and FitLit, a financial literacy training program.

For Rosalie Ferebee, Enactus student organization president, the win at regional's was an incredible way to end her senior year. Ferebee, who will be graduating with a bachelor's of science degree in business, has been a member of Enactus since she was a freshmen and attributes the student organization for shaping her professional career path.

"Enactus was the first organization that I joined at the University; it really influenced and shaped me in my career orientation, on-campus involvement and thought process," Ferebee said. "I feel that the environment has encouraged me to think big, be humanitarian-oriented, and focus on empowerment or sustainable changes in any project or idea."

The University's Enactus team will travel to St. Louis, Missouri, Monday, May 16 for the 2016 National Competition. At the National Competition, one team will be chosen to move on to the World Cup, which takes place Sept. 28-30.

University students interested in joining Enactus can email enactusunr@gmail.com.