Two high schools in Perry County, Ill., Pinckneyville and DuQuoin, are collaborating on a program known as “Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities,” or the CEO class, which brings local business leaders into classrooms as mentors for high school students, connecting classroom learning with real-world business skills, the Southern Illinoisan reports.
The CEO class exemplifies the idea that the 21st-century skills of collaborating, problem solving, communicating, using technology, and connecting globally aren’t things we study in a classroom, but they’re things we do.
The program is scheduled to launch in the two Perry County high schools a year from now, in August 2015. The schools need to raise some funds from local business investors, who will become partners in the CEO class. They’re looking for about a $1,000 commitment each year for three years, but this is about a lot more than money.
“It’s one thing to come up with money, but it also requires these folks to be mentors and to be actively present in the classroom,” the paper quoted DuQuoin mayor Rex Duncan as saying. “We want this to be a private-sector driven, private-sector led initiative.”
The folks who will steer the CEO program met with local business and community leaders on May 27. “We had a very positive meeting and basically, we’re on the verge of getting the thing launched,” Mr Duncan was quoted as saying.
But even though the participation in Perry County will probably be a little lower than the usual 22 students who take part in the CEO program, school leaders have said they can already see many positive effects.
“Collaboration is taking place at a level that’s not happened before between the two high schools in the county,” Pinckneyville Superintendent Keith Hagene told the Southern Illinoisan. “Leaders from both communities are working together to explore this and bring it to fruition.”
“For Perry County students, it can be a unique learning environment,” the paper quoted Gary Kelly, DuQuoin superintendent of school, as saying. “They’re going to be active learners and be responsible for their learning.”
Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship
The Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship conducted its first CEO class in Effingham, Ill., and has since expanded to other schools. It’s the brainchild of Craig Lindvahl, a nationally recognized educator and filmmaker, who partners with former Illinois Teacher of the Year Joe Fatheree to create a class that is funded almost entirely by local business investors.
As a result of this work, he was recently named the Illinois “teacher-preneur” of the year, but he has also received Emmys, Tellys, the Studs Terkel Award for contributions to the humanities, and the Milken National Educator Award.
Mr Lindvahl’s documentaries can be seen often on PBS, and his most recent documentary, about the Cincinnati Reds, enjoyed a good run on the Major League Baseball network.
