ABILENE -- Dickinson County school districts and business and community leaders are uniting to launch the inaugural Dickinson County CEO program.
CEO was created in 2008 by the Illinois-based Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship. CEO, which stands for "creating entrepreneurial opportunities," is a year-long course designed to utilize partnerships to teach students about business. Classes will consist of 20 students. Each class will create a business and each student will also launch their own business.
“This is a great opportunity for our county to be involved not only in educating our youth, but also assisting startup businesses,” said Brenda Holm, CEO board member and investor. “Other CEO programs experience a 10 percent continuation rate in their students’ businesses past high school. We hope to not only see these businesses continue in Dickinson County, but also the students continue their relationships with the businesses they engage with either as future employees or peer businesses.”
Dickinson County CEO will be the first program in Kansas. There are more than 50 programs nationwide.
To date, the steering committee has raised more than $30,000/year in three-year pledges to facilitate the program.
“CEO is a unique opportunity to expand a high school student’s education in a non-traditional way,” said Brenda Holm, CEO board member and investor. “It will engage talented young minds and future consumers with an outstanding business community enriching both parties throughout the county.”
The program is geared towards young adults, who are in their junior or senior year of high school. Student recruitment will begin in January with the inaugural class beginning in August 2020.
Of note, all of Dickinson County’s five high schools are participating in the program.
“We are excited to be part of this program connecting students and business leaders,” said J.B. Pritchard, Herington High School counselor. “Herington High School has an outstanding FBLA program and we see this program as an added benefit to the students in our district.”
In addition to recruiting students, the board is also recruiting a facilitator. The facilitator is a half-time position, with 90 minutes a day spent with the students. The facilitator will coordinate business visits, arrange guest speakers and maintain good relationships with the business community in order to create a learning environment that allows students to succeed.
“When looking for a facilitator, we want someone who is a kid magnet. This person needs to build strong relationships with both the student and the business community,” said Kyle Becker, Dickinson County CEO president “We don’t see this as a front of the room classroom teacher, they need to be able to engage students and help guide them on their own path of CEO.”
For more information or to apply, visit www.DickinsonCountyCEO.com/facilitator.