San Antonio, TX – Three Schreiner University Honors Society students, Matthew Walton, Katie Buerk and Sofia Lopez – who are also 2019-2020 Dean Scholars – presented their Dean’s Scholars Research initiative Saturday at the 2020 Southwest Fulbright Research Symposium in San Antonio, TX.

The first presentation by Walton covered a semester long research project in his International Financial Management class, addressing various aspects of public policy, country risk and economic development in Central America – specifically Belize – within a directed in-depth examination of the 2019 Annual Economic Freedom of the World Report by the Frazier Institute.

The project specifically examined the findings of and addressed in detail the effects of how the five main metrics of the report contribute to or deter economic prosperity within specific countries. The five-metrics studied – with numerous subcategories – were: Size of Government, Legal System & Property Rights, Sound Money, Freedom to Trade Internationally and Regulation.

A second presentation by Walton, Buerk and Lopez presented three Belizean high school based business projects, Art, Biking and Kayaking with a Purpose, conducted under the auspices of a Schreiner University Dean’s Scholar Research initiative in collaboration with three teams of freshman in Professor Jay McCormack’s Introduction to Business class at Schreiner University.

The scholar’s weekly class engagement throughout the fall was designed to further develop and explore the opportunities of three specific student businesses in support of the mission of Ocean Academy charter high school based in Caye Caulker, Belize, which seeks to provide their students with the personal, academic, and entrepreneurial skills to creatively build and operate business endeavors within their community.

Both projects are planned to be shared by Schreiner University students with Ocean Academy students, staff and friends of the charter high school on Caye Caulker in Belize this spring with the goal of further collaboration between Schreiner University and Ocean Academy on the three projects. It will be the fifth student trip to Belize working with multiple social entrepreneurs across the country, including Ocean Academy, an initiative which was funded initially by a specific grant for the work in Belize from the Hatton Sumners Foundation provided within the 2014 Elmore Whitehead Award for Creative Teaching.

For more information about the Schreiner University Honors Society or the presentations, contact Jay McCormack, Visiting Assistant Professor of Business, at 830-792-7340 or jtmccormack@schreiner.edu.