6/24/2009
Congratulations to Sule Amadu, Sidney Simonson and Trevor Trout, this semester’s outstanding business graduates! The outstanding graduate designation is an honor bestowed on students who demonstrate superb academic achievement and significant professional progress while completing their studies.
Sule Amadu is a graduate student from Ghana who has earned two master's degrees in a record two-and-a-half years. His degrees are in mechanical engineering through the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in the College of Engineering and in business through the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise program in the College of Business. This year he was named an Acumen Fund Fellow, a prestigious award dedicated to serving the poor in developing countries. Amadu is an original team member of PowerMundo, an international venture that manages a global distribution network for healthy and affordable technologies to empower people in developing countries. The company, which started as a project for the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise master's degree program in the college, is now operating in Peru.
Sidney Simonson was honored earlier this year with the Albert C. Yates Student Leadership Award in recognition of his leadership efforts and contributions. While at Colorado State, Simonson completed an internship at the Colorado State Senate and became chairman of the board of the Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation. He is the first college student to hold this position. Simonson is also the only college student to be appointed to the Larimer County Corrections Board, the Fort Collins Transportation Board, the Fort Collins Elections Commission and the Fort Collins Personnel Board. He serves on the Colorado State University Police Review Board, the Resources for Adult Learners Board, and he is the co-chair of Better World Books, an organization that collects used textbooks and ships them to students in Africa. His volunteer efforts have contributed more than $1,000 in food and toys for the Larimer County Food Bank and Santa Cops as well 1,500 pounds of used textbooks to Africa through Better World Books. He has been honored with two CSU Police Appreciation Awards, the CSU Pace Setter Award, the Front Range Community College Outstanding Student Award and the Institute of Management Accounts Top Colorado Student Award.
Trevor Trout is graduating with a degree in business management with a focus in supply chain, entrepreneurship and German. He was the vice president of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and initiated a fundraiser contributing to more than 12 percent of the chapter's operating budget. Trout also traveled to Washington, D.C. to successfully lobby Congress on behalf of Greek life. He was the vice president of the Associated Students Colorado State University and successfully lobbied the state legislature for affordable and equitable tuition rates, assisted in the passage of the Colorado Statute on textbook affordability as well as initiated the extension of the library hours of operation. He has been a passionate student advocate throughout college. He also served as a campaign manager for a candidate to city council in 2009 and provided a strong constituency voice in city council affairs. He is the chief executive officer of a new business, Torque Innovations, a tool and equipment provider for wildland firefighters, which he started out of the College of Business Entrepreneurship program. This business was ranked among the top 5 new ventures at a national business plan competition hosted by CSU, Venture Adventure.