Jay Bassich

Business administration major Jay Christian Bassich looked at colleges and universities across the country before he fell in love with TU. “Towson University just seemed like a campus where I would fit in,” he recalls. “It was a great four years.”

Jay Bassich

Today Bassich has spread his entrepreneurial wings, spearheading a project to help Syrian refugees assimilate to the culture of the United States. “The entrepreneurship concentration is the perfect way to gain the tools you need to start your own venture,” says Bassich. “The courses have given me the competence and confidence to start a nonprofit.”

“ I never realized all Towson University has to offer until I started giving tours. ”

Jay Christian Bassich

“We associate entrepreneurship with making money, but it can also make change happen,” explains Bassich. His Syrian Refugee Mission connects churches in the area with refugees. “I’ve met with pastors and parishioners in the area and talked about the need to help refugees. Through the churches, we are hoping to pair refugees with sponsor families, who donate household goods and other items, provide tutoring or babysitting services, or advise refugees on how to navigate life in their new country.

Bassich brings the same enthusiasm to his post as a TU student ambassador. “I never realized all Towson University has to offer until I started giving tours,” he says. “I like to think I have helped some students make the right decision to attend Towson University.”

As part of the Clinton Global Initiative, Bassich was invited to present his philanthropic start-up at the University of California, Berkeley. “It was interesting to learn more about all of the entrepreneurial efforts in the nonprofit sector,” says Bassich. “And it was exciting to meet former President Bill Clinton.”