The Taylorville Kiwanis Club heard from eleven of the 12 Christian County CEO students, at their weekly meeting at the Taylorville Moose Lodge on Tuesday.

CEO stands for “Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities”, and is a class offered to Christian County seniors teaching business skills.  Students are selected thru an application process, and the program is administered by a local board of business and school leaders from thru-out the county.

The Christian County CEO was founded some 8 years ago after Taylorville native Craig Lindvahl, who was a teacher at Effingham High School at the time, founded the Effingham County CEO program.  He then offered the program to other counties in Illinois including Christian.  Today, the CEO program is offered in over 40 areas of the Midwest.

CEO participants appearing at Tuesday’s Kiwanis meeting talked about their own journey with the program so far this year, and their work towards establishing their own business which will be introduced at the Trade Show at Visionway Christian Church in Taylorville next April 22nd.

CEO student Alaina Deal told the club how the class functions.

The CEO class has toured many local businesses and even in Chicago.  CEO student Darrian Ippolito told Kiwanis members about a tour of Chicago businesses led by 2 members of the Barry family, who grew up in Taylorville.

CEO student Macy Richards said the creation of a class business gives seed money for their individual start-up businesses to be introduced at the CEO Trade Show next April.

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is among many organizations, businesses, and individuals that gave financial support to get the program started and keep it going in Christian County.

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.  Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Moose Lodge.  For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.