Hunter Park, a StFX Gerald Schwartz School of Business student from Grand Manan, NB, has received a prestigious award recognizing him as an emerging business leader. The third year entrepreneurship student is one of eight students from Atlantic Canada business schools to receive a $45,000 Frank H Sobey Award for Excellence in Business Studies.
The eight winners, from 34 exceptional nominations provided by their respective Deans of Business, are selected by the Frank H Sobey Awards Board of Trustees based on their entrepreneurship, supporting the communities in which they live and work, and their employment experience. All full-time business students attending Atlantic universities are eligible for consideration.
“We continue to be inspired by the talent, leadership and entrepreneurialism shining through students at Atlantic Canadian business schools." said Paul D. Sobey, Chair of the Board of Trustees, which is comprised of Atlantic Canadian business and academic leaders.
Established in 1989, the Frank H Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies have awarded more than $3 million to business students in the four Atlantic Provinces.
EXCELLENT STUDENT
“Hunter Park fits the profile of a Frank H Sobey Award winner,” says Gerald Schwartz School Dean of Business Dr. Tim Hynes. “He is a community-minded leader with an entrepreneurial focus. He is academically focused and socially engaged, proactively contributing to environmental and community enhancement.
“We are fortunate to have students such as Hunter at the Schwartz School of Business.”
Mr. Park, who is already a business owner, running a geodesic dome rental business in his home community, says for as long as he can remember, he has had a passion for entrepreneurship.
“In elementary school, my classmates would head to summer sports camps. I, however, asked to go to an entrepreneurship camp,” he says.
At age 10, he started his first business, Hunter Park Mowing. He saved enough money to buy a DSLR camera and start his next business, Hunter Park Photography, at age 12, running both businesses simultaneously.
He earned a carpentry certificate at New Brunswick Community College, worked for a year, then returned to school to pursue business studies at StFX.
During his first year at university, he worked on a business plan for the luxury geodesic dome rental business he dreamt of starting on Grand Manan Island. He successfully applied for and received loan funding to start the business from The Canadian Business Development Corporation – Charlotte County. He incorporated Park Place Retreats in 2021, at the end of his first year at StFX.
That year, he also received The New Generations Award from Grand Manan Island Rotary Club.
Mr. Park says a big part of his motivation for starting the business includes supporting causes he is passionate about. Every stay at Park Place Retreats plants a tree through their partner, Tree Canada. The company is also a member of one percent for the planet, although he says more than one per cent of revenue is put towards environmental charities. Also, as a member of the gay community, he says the company donates to LGBTQ+ charities as well.
At StFX, Mr. Park is actively engaged in the campus community.
This year, he is co-captain of JDCC Schwartz, a group that attends the largest undergraduate business competition in central Canada, organized by the Canadian Association of Business Schools. He co-led a team of 45 students to the national competition in Ottawa.
He was a co-house president at MacIsaac Hall, which won the StFX House of the Year award. He also acted as a mentor for MacIsaac Hall students struggling with the transition to university. In his second year, he was elected to the position of business representative on the Students’ Union, was a member of the student orientation group, O-Crew, and participated in the Xaverian Leaders program.
Mr. Park also supports Movember, has volunteered at COVID-19 clinics, participated in Relay for Life, which raises money for cancer research, and has volunteered in numerous ways in his hometown, including co-founding Grand Manan Island Tourism.
He says his degree at StFX allows him to be enrolled in New Venture Development. He has been developing another business idea in this class, to provide a healthy alternative to traditional alcoholic drinks.
