A Carleton alumnus announced Sept. 16 he would be donating $1 million to Carleton in order to encourage students to think innovatively.
"A majority of students [at Carleton] are unsung heroes. They're bright, they're getting their education, but they've got more to offer," said Wesley Nicol.
The money will fund The Nicol Challenge, a series of campus-wide events challenging students to "think entrepreneurially." Nicol described this as "offering innovative solutions to real world problems."
Nicol, who graduated in 1954, received the 2001 Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year award in recognition of his entrepreneurial accomplishments. In addition, Nicol said he donates much of his income to the Wesley and Mary Nicol Charitable Foundation.
Nicol is "someone who does think outside the box. I think if he can instill that to more folks, we'll be a better campus for it," said Mark Forbes, Carleton’s associate dean of research.
Forbes is involved with the planning process of the different events that will be outlined in the challenge.
"What we're doing is trying to set up a panel of staff and faculty," Forbes said. "We're just going to start looking at what we might be able to do in terms of how we might be able to roll out this challenge."
Forbes said they were looking to instill a sense of ability in students through the Nicol Challenge.
“We're really trying to enable students to think a bit about the problems. The world's not so complex that they can't innovate,” Forbes said. “The world's not so complex that they can't solve problems.”
"There were quite a few opportunities for me as a young entrepreneur," said second-year psychology student Dylan Mcleod, who is also co-owner of his own Caribbean restaurant The Giggling Jerks. "Had this not been the case though, I think that funding through a school-run program would have helped greatly."
Nicol said he hopes to have students "thinking entrepreneurially" by January 2011, with winners of the competition announced in spring 2011.
"Thinking 'entrepreneurially' really means being able to support yourself in what your most creative ideas are," Mcleod said. "It's about doing what you really want to do with your life."