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Lindsey Wilson University Students Hope New Club Encourages Entrepreneurship

E-Club aims to 'unlock the entrepreneurial spirit we have on campus.'

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (12/09/2025) — A group of Lindsey Wilson University students hopes to be part of a campus movement that will encourage more young people to become entrepreneurs.

That's one reason why they started the E-Club, which held its first meeting on Monday, Dec. 8, in the university's Thomas D. Clark Reading Room. With support from Awesome Inc. -- a Lexington, Kentucky-based firm that works with and coaches entrepreneurs -- the LWU E-Club wants to help lower the age of the average entrepreneur.

The average age of a person who starts a business is in their early 40s, and the officers of the LWU E-Club would like to instead see more members of Gen Z -- those born between 1997-2012 -- become entrepreneurs.

"I think anyone that has an entrepreneurial mind always has ideas circulating, and we want to help them see if it's a realistic opportunity," said Taylor Harvey of Columbia, who will graduate from LWU this December with a double major in business administration and Chrisitan ministries and is E-Club president.

Lindsey Wilson business instructor Linda McKinley Grider '66 said that she hopes the new club "will unlock the entrepreneurial spirit we have on campus."

"We want it to be interdisciplinary and something for all students to take advantage of, not just a club for business students," said Grider, who advises the student group.

Harvey said that in many ways, Lindsey Wilson's A.P. White Campus offers an ideal setting for someone interested in entrepreneurship.

"Our students already operate dozens of small businesses on campus," she said. "We want to provide a place for them to bring their ideas beyond campus and go out into the world to start businesses."

One of the resources students will have to test their business ideas will be the university's annual Entrepreneurship Expo, which the E-Club will help coordinate in the spring semester.

Earlier in the fall semester, E-Club officers and other Lindsey Wilson students attended this year's Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Lexington, which gave them multiple opportunities to network with some of the commonwealth's established and budding entrepreneurs.

"It was great to build connections through events like that," said Allee Harris '26 of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a business administration major and the club's vice president.

For Rebekah Stevenson '27 of Russell Springs, Kentucky, the E-Club is an opportunity to continue a family tradition. Her late father, Bill, was an entrepreneur who owned and operated Bill's Auto Repair for more than a decade.

"To carry on his legacy is my goal, and share a little bit of the love he shared for the community through his work," said Stevenson, a business administration major who is also the club's secretary.

Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university's 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.

Media Attachments

Lindsey Wilson University's newly formed E-Club is focused on encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship on campus. From left are club officers at this year’s Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Lexington: Rebekah Stevenson ’27 of Russell Springs, Kentucky, E-Club secretary; Allee Harris ’26 of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, vice president; and Taylor Harvey ’25 of Columbia, president.

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