2015 TrepStart Day

St. Louis University

On October 5, the students of Belleville CEO attended the 2015 TrepStart Day at St. Louis University sponsored by Independent Youth.   The event was a coming together opportunity for the students to network with many young entrepreneurs from all over America. Throughout the day, the students attended many break out sessions with the young entrepreneurs and received valuable advice for how to start up their own businesses and make them successful. The event was very relaxing because of all the fun activities that the students did.

Written by Malik Marks-McRath

Mr. Gerald Baldwin

The class got their picture taken with Gerald Baldwin who was the co-founder of Starbucks Coffee and the president from its inceptions in 1971 until 1987 when he sold the company.  There were only six Starbucks at the time of the sale.  

Teen Entrepreneur Presenters

There were 13 teen entrepreneur presenters at the 2015 TrepStart Day this year.  They were:

• Zach Certner, SNAP
  
• Remmi Smith, Cook Time with Remmi
• Lachlan Johnson, BeauxUP & TREP-ology
• Jaylen Bledsoe, Bledsoe Global Group
• Lily Sandler, BLAMtastsic
• Joshua Williams, Joshua's Heart Foundation
• Mikaila Ulmer, BeeSweet Lemonade
• Chris Gladden,  Lazy Switch
• Lily Born, Imagiroo
• Jake Johnson, BeauxUp & TREP-ology
• Alexis Elliott, EduPair
• Ryan Kelley, Ry's Ruffery
• Zach Weisenthal, Zach's Web Designs Serpent Skating

Mrs. Geri Boyer

Founder and Manager
Kaskaskia Engineering Group LLC - Investor

On Wednesday, Mrs. Geri Boyer, from Kaskaskia Engineering, came to Allsup and taught the class the art of meditation. The first part of class was spent learning the origin and health benefits of meditation. The second part was spent meditating. After only 20 short minutes of meditating, the class atmosphere had completely changed. As busy high school students, we had the opportunity to slow down and reflect on our lives. We were rejuvenated and ready to take on the day. Thank you for coming in Mrs. Boyer! Namasté.

Written and Edited by Aliyah Gillespie and Hannah Prindable

Mr. Charles Fike

Charles H Fike LLC & Rafeedie Tax & Accounting, Inc. - Investors

On Thursday, the Belleville CEO Program had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Charles Fike.  He discussed his business ventures such as Rafeedie Tax & Accounting, Inc.  Mr. Fike explained the pros and cons of being self-employed.  He also gave us ideas to think about for our class business. His presentation was laid-back, yet it was very engaging. Thank you to Charles Fike for visiting and speaking to our group!

Written and Edited by Sandy Amorado & Hannah Prindable

Just a Reminder

Our door is always open. Entrepreneurs, visitors, guests, and friends are welcome and highly encouraged to join us. Drop in and share your story with our students or participate in our class discussions. Check out the schedule on the website.

If you are interested in hosting our students for an educational visit about your business operations or would like to speak to the class and share your story, please email the facilitator, Julie Siebers, at jsiebers@bths201.org or call or text her at 618.719.3177.

Journal Tidbits

“WOW TrepStart was amazing! I really had no idea it was going to be that impacting. Just seeing all those young kids doing big things in their life is just mind bowing. The youngest one I think she was 11 and doing what every little kid does at least once in their life and that's making lemonade.” 

Emma Gregowicz

"Geri Boyer coming in to teach us mediation was the highlight of my week. Personally these past few weeks have been super stressful with school, volleyball, the 10 million clubs I chair, homecoming, college applications, and applying for scholarships. I get up early and go to bed late which usually means I'm tired (especially at 7:30 a.m.). So just those 20 minutes of being still and not worrying about anything made a huge difference. I truly wasn't as tired and really enjoyed taking time to slow down and reflect on my life. I plan to slowly start working meditation into my daily schedule because of the big impact it had on the rest of my day!

 Trep Start was such a cool experience and all future CEO classes should go if they get the opportunity. The atmosphere was fun and welcoming. I liked how there was such a broad range of ages but the event catered to all."  

Aliyah Gillespie

"Before we got to the TrepStart program I was thinking it was going to be just an auditorium full of people listening to speakers. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw lots of interaction, fun, and games being played throughout the room everyone was in. I was also unaware that other schools were coming to this event that do not participate in the CEO programs. Getting to meet and listen to Jerry Baldwin speak was a cool experience. He was very friendly and had a lot of good things to say about how he got to where he is now. After listening to Jerry I got the opportunity to hear two young entrepreneurs tell their stories.

The first speaker I got to listen to was Alexis Elliot. Alexis is only fifteen years old and has her own company launching in a few days. The name of her presentation was “Dreaming Big: How to come up with the Big idea”. I think the title sums up the whole thing pretty well. Alexis said first is to find a problem and then be a solution. Find something that you care deeply about and turn it into a business. I am going to take this into consideration when the time comes to make our own businesses. A quote that she used during her presentation was this, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” I really connected with this quote in my life already. I started golf sophomore year without ever picking up a club. I am now a starter on the varsity team. I think this is the same with anything, I can’t expect to start something and be great. Everything takes practice and work."

Heather Gosebrink