|
 This year there are eight students who will
complete the school year course in business leadership and
ownership. The young entrepreneurs each came up with a business idea
and then developed it into an actual business with guidance from
class facilitator Britta Langley and the mentors who help the
students along the way.
The mentors are business owners and managers from the area who
invested their personal time to help the students learn the ins and
outs of business including cultivating an idea and developing via
research, creating a business plan, and learning how to market the
business, and much more.
The tradeshow opened with a team of greeters handing out this year’s
annual report including the current LLCEO Board Chairperson Kristi
Powell.
Inside greeters were handing out the cards for the annual drawings.
Visitors had their card initialed at each student’s table.
The CEO program is provided and monitored by the Midland Institute.
That organization sets the guidelines for the CEO program and the
qualifications of students who are accepted into the program.
The program specifies that students may enroll in the CEO program
for one school year only either during their junior or senior year
of high school. However, there are also special allowances provided
for repeat students.
According to Powell the coronavirus in 2020 created a special
circumstance and last year’s juniors were permitted to take the
class for a second time.
Two students did a second round of CEO education. Eli Hewitt at
Lincoln Community High School and Ruthie Ruhl, a homeschool senior
affiliated with Mount Pulaski High School.
Guests were encouraged to visit each booth, then offered some sweet
treats as they exited the tradeshow.
[to top of second column] |
At the Community Investor Suite those who are involved in this
year’s program visitors could pick up the annual report, as well as
other information about the CEO program and getting involved in
future years.
Social distancing was suggested and face masks were required. Some
of the young business owners had products available for sale, while
others were taking orders for the delivery of product at a later
time.
Guest Michelle Bauer had done some shopping and held up her bags to
show off her support for the young entrepreneurs.
In all, it was a good evening for the young business owners. Many
enjoyed sharing their stories with guests and promoting their
products or services. Some also talked about why they chose a
particular business and what their future plans would be.
One young business owner, Alena Reed noted that her year with the
CEO program had shown her that she can be successful in Lincoln. She
said that she had thought going into the program that she would
graduate high school, go to college, then move on to a larger
community. She felt she would need to do so in order to be
successful. CEO has taught her that success can be achieved at home.
Her future includes going to college, and returning home to expand
the business she has started for CEO.
[Nila Smith] |
