Annette Betting-Fuentes

Annette Betting-Fuentes Wins 2016 Tomato Can Loving Cup

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Annette Betting-Fuentes is the 2016 winner of the Tomato Can Loving Cup award, the most prestigious award the Carlson School can bestow on an undergraduate student. She received the award at commencement ceremonies on May 16.

“Her future is bright and she represents many of the core values the Carlson School hopes to see in its students,” said one award nominator about Betting-Fuentes.

As a Tomato Can recipient, Betting-Fuentes is eligible to receive a half-tuition scholarship to the Carlson Full-Time MBA Program following two years of professional work experience.  

Betting-Fuentes came to the Carlson School as a graduate of DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis. She had participated in GopherBusiness, a one-week summer program hosted by the Carlson School for rising high school juniors and seniors.

“She has been a dedicated student, in both academics and extracurricular activities, throughout her college career. She not only strives for excellence in her academics, but she truly loves learning and preparing herself for the future,” said Assistant Dean Mary Maus Kosir at the commencement ceremony. “That has been demonstrated time and time again in her community engagement both inside and outside of the University of Minnesota.”

Annette Betting-Fuentes

Since coming to the Carlson School, her contributions to the University community are numerous, including serving as a GopherBusiness intern and mentor, a Women Mean Business mentor and leader, a community advisor in housing and residential life, and president of the Youth Music Education Foundation. She also held leadership positions as a Carlson Crew Leader, a Carlson Ambassador, and a participant and leader in Students Today, Leaders Forever.

Passionate about international education and fluent in Spanish, Betting-Fuentes studied abroad twice during her time at the Carlson School – both on the semester-long Argentina Exchange Program and earlier in the year in the school’s first global entrepreneurship class to Cuba. She successfully completed multiple internships at Cargill, Travelers, True Talent Group, and Save the Children.

Graduating with a major in marketing, Betting-Fuentes will be heading to Los Angeles to work for City Year through AmeriCorps. City Year is an education-focused organization dedicated to helping students and school succeed.

“Annette stands as an excellent role model for all of us,” Maus Kosir said. “Those of us who have had the opportunity to work with Annette know that her humble and approachable demeanor, commitment, and passion will take her far in life.”

Watch Betting-Fuentes accept the award

About the Tomato Can Loving Cup

The Tomato Can Loving Cup has been awarded annually since 1929 to the undergraduate business student who has best exemplified high performance and outstanding service to the school, the University of Minnesota, and the communities around campus.

The trophy itself was built by Henry Milton, a business student and the inaugural recipient of the award, out of an old tomato can and one of his mother’s candlesticks. Engraved on the side of the metallic can, along with the names of each recipient, is a description of the award: “Presented annually to that person who in the course of the year has rendered the most distinctive service to the school.”