Alumni Feature
Kenneth DeGraaf ’16: RecruitUS
Kenneth DeGraaf ’16 recently
launched his own company,
RecruitUS LLC, which he co-
founded with colleagues An-
drew Alisa and Cole Paczas.
RecruitUS LLC helps high
school student-athletes in
less visible sports such as bowling and cross
country be recruited by colleges and universities.
“Sports like basketball, football and baseball have
a gateway of recruiting services largely because
that is what the media portrays,” DeGraaf said.
“This does not mean, however, that athletes
in other sports do not exist. These sports that
get all the publicity only make up a for a small
fraction of those numbers. So we made it our
responsibility to give our athletes and coaches
an easier voice in the recruiting process.”
Ashlee Trempus ’15: SignOn
As a sign language interpreter,
Ashlee Trempus ’15 is used to
face-to-face contact with the
deaf community in helping
them communicate wit h the
world around them.
When she graduated from
SHU’s Lansing campus with a bachelor’s degree
in multidisciplinary studies, she decided to bring
that face-to-face concept to the Internet. Trempus
co-founded the start-up company SignOn, which
is a “virtual immersion program” that connects
the hearing and deaf communities through
authentic learning interactions.
Trempus said she got the idea when an illness
slowed her ability to complete her required hours
of interaction she needed for her interpreter
certification.
“I became homebound,” she said. “I was unable
to travel.”
Along with co-founder Paul Fugate, they devel-
oped the SignOn online platform, which was
launched in February 2016. Trempus said ASL
learners have the unique opportunity to com-
municate one-on-one with a deaf ASL “Ambas-
sador.” She said SignOn helps give people
the confidence they need to engage with the
deaf community while practicing and retaining
language techniques.
“One of our challenges was going to the deaf
community and getting them to trust and believe
this was going to be beneficial to the ASL learn-
DeGraaf also said they hosted the RecruitUS
Collegiate Bowling Showcase, which is on pace
to become the single largest collegiate bowling
recruiting event in the world. They had approx-
imately 220 recruits and coaches from 24 colleges
and universities attend.
“The typical RecruitUS event features an open
house and on-site competition in which the
athletes and coaches can interact,” DeGraaf said.
“When athletes and coaches sign up for
our events, they are saving the
hassle of planning
multiple recruiting
trips that neither
side has the time or money for.”
He said they are taking a “slow growth strategy”
since all three are still taking college courses.
DeGraff is currently completing his MBA at St.
Francis University in Loretto, Pa. He is also an
assistant women’s bowling coach for the NCAA
Division I institution.
ing process,” Trempus said. “We hired a web
developer to create our platform, but we did the
web design ourselves.”
Trempus said they modeled their concept from
other educational sites and researched the pricing
for in-person tutoring programs.
“I wanted it to be comparable to an actual tutor,”
she said of the pricing, which starts at $25 for a
30-minute online session.
SignOn currently has approximately 25 Ambas-
sadors on staff, “and we’re constantly getting new
resumes and growing,” Trempus said. “They are
the ones students or anyone interested in learning
American Sign Language are connecting to.”
Once users login and register for a session, they
are connected to an Ambassador via online video
chat. However, there is a text
messaging option available
to ask the Ambassador
questions.
“They can see it, show
the sign and have you repeat it back to them,”
Trempus said of how the program works.
“Having them able to see it visually from both
sides (of the camera) makes it easier.”
SignOn is currently being used by seven colleges
and universities in Michigan that have sign
language interpreting programs. Trempus said the
company’s goal is to be in 20 of the state’s 42
institutions by the end of 2017, and to eventually
scale it nationally.
“We also have clients who are parents and have
recently found out that their child is deaf and
“We also have plans to get into cross country
next year and are in talks with the Detroit Sports
Commission of possibly doing that event at Belle
Isle Park in Detroit,” DeGraaf said.
DeGraaf and his co-owners recently pitched
their concept to the popular television show
“Shark Tank,” which has some of the nation’s
top business moguls possibly investing in the
best business ideas. They made it through the
first round, and are awaiting word if they will
get a chance to pitch their idea to the “Sharks”
themselves.
“When we saw that ‘Shark Tank’ was coming to
Detroit, we could not pass up the opportunity,”
DeGraaf said. “The worst case scenario is that we
don’t make it to the TV show, but we still meet a
lot of local Detroit business owners and potential
partners. There’s no down side to that at all.”
To check out RecruitUS, visit recruitus.net.
would like to connect to the deaf community,”
Trempus said. “And we have high school students
who are using it as a foreign language. When we
first started this, it was to help students get their
hours of interaction. Now it’s for anyone.”
Although SignOn is only a website at the moment
for desktop or laptop computer use, Trempus said
they are looking at developing an app that would
work for tablets and possibly smartphones.
She said starting the business has been a learning
experience.
“My dad has his MBA, and he did a lot of advis-
ing,” said Trempus, who was a sign language
interpreter for Detroit Public Schools before
making SignOn her main focus. “Right now we’re
going to schools specifically and talking to the
teachers, the program directors, the presidents
of the universities. We’re just knocking on the
door and and saying, ‘Hi, are you willing to
speak to me?’”
She said all of her employees are paid a minimum
$15 per hour.
“It was very important to me in creating this
business to pay my workers a living wage,”
Trempus said. “We’re trying as hard as we can
to continue to grow and expand and add new
and different things.”
“Believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you
can take it as far as you want to go—with lots of
elbow grease. If you’re willing to work for it, you
can get it done.”
To check out SignOn, visit signonconnect.com. u
Reflections Summer ’17 | 9