Centenary Business Students Sell Holiday Ornaments to Benefit Non Profit Organizations

Hackettstown, N.J. – Dr. Steven E. McHugh, Sr., Associate Professor of Business, is using experiential learning methodologies in the classroom by developing a fundraiser to provide his students with the opportunity to gain real-world business experience.

Students in his Integrated Business Perspectives and Principles of Management classes are selling holiday ornaments in partnership with Noël Designs to benefit nonprofit organizations that are chosen by the student team with the highest sales.  The fundraiser is scheduled to run until Thursday, November 29, 2012, with an ornament delivery occurring in the second week of December.  The ornaments cost $8, with $2 going to a local charity.

These ornaments are individually hand-painted by the artist and come in four designs specifically developed for this fundraiser: an angel, a snowman, a Santa Claus and a gingerbread men.

The artist, Noel Leuzarder, is a 2010 graduate of Centenary College and former president of Centenary’s Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team (now named Enactus). While in SIFE, Leuzarder was involved in the creation and growth of numerous small business ventures. This sparked Leuzarder’s interest to someday pursue the creation of her own business. While working as a Retail Supervisor and Business Analyst for a national marketing and sales company, she decided to pursue this initiative. She created Noël Designs, a small business specializing in custom artwork.

“I have been painting as a hobby for 12 years and found this to be a way to turn a hobby and a love for this art form into a business,” says Leuzarder.  “I am very excited to be working with my alma mater once again through the creation and sale of these ornaments and am glad to donate part of the sales to a nonprofit organization that the winning sales team choses.”

If interested in purchasing an ornament, please contact Jennifer Meny at menyj@centenarycollege.edu or call (908) 852-1400, ext. 2247.

Founded in 1867 by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church, Centenary College’s academic program integrates a solid liberal arts foundation with a strong career orientation. This mix is designed to provide an educational experience that prepares students to succeed in the increasingly global and interdependent world.

Centenary College’s main campus is located in Hackettstown, N.J., with its equestrian facility in Washington Township (Morris County).  The Centenary College School of Professional Studies offers degree programs in three locations: Hackettstown, Parsippany and Edison, and at corporate sites throughout New Jersey.  The School of International Programs recruits international students for study at Centenary and Centenary students for study abroad.

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