Archived News

Week 22 - January 25-29

A Grand Gala: CEOnopoly Style


Celebrating Businesses in the Belleville Area

We are proud to announce the addition of the final five businesses to our Grand Gala's CEO-nopoly board!

The $400 "Ventnor Avenue" property: Bank of Belleville

The $400 "Atlantic Avenue" property: Barcom Security

The $350 "Kentucky Avenue" property: The Junior Coding Academy

The $300 "New York Avenue" property: The Orchards Golf Course

The $250 "St. Charles Place" property: Allsup

Belleville CEO would like to thank the following investors who have already secured a place on our board for sponsorships to our "Grand Gala.

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Pewter Sponsor

The class took turns going around the room and trying to snag the final sponsor!

Belleville CEO has completed their board! The success of our class business wouldn't have been possible without the support of our sponsors. The spirit of the community is rich in our  rapidly approaching class business and we are so excited for the town to come together for a night of celebrating what makes our community great! As a class we are working to make this event possible through teamwork and many discussions. In our journey we've been given a glimpse of the business world and have achieved this goal of the program. We again thank our investors, friends, family, and the community for making this possible!

Written by Jessica Stern


City Hall Tour with Mayor Eckert

Mayor Mark Eckert – Friend of CEO

Tuesday we met with Mayor Eckert and he gave our class a lot of valuable information. One of his most lasting lessons was to not beat yourself up about decisions that you make that may not go the way you wanted and to have the ability to just move on from it. I, personally, found comfort with this because I hold onto my struggles and it affects me in many ways. Another key point he shared was that relationship building is key in the business world. He was such a great person to hear from and we loved meeting with him!

Written by Paige Montgomery

The History of Belleville is rich and interesting: here, Mayor Eckert briefed the students on the town's mayors since apprx. 1814.
The class toured City Hall, beginning in the meeting room.
Mayor Eckert took the students into his office as he briefly described what he does as Mayor.
Mayor Eckert recounted on the old Belleville - of how the community 'had a vision' and 'took a gamble' to be the successful town we are today.
Eckert told the students that although he knows running a small business can be a challenge, he would by no means discourage it.
Mayor Eckert conveyed practical advice to the students about dealing with people in business.

Junior Coding Academy

On Tuesday, the first coding class took place at Peer 151 (a friend of CEO). Students ranging from ages 11 - 18 from local high schools and grade schools were there, all eager to learn. The first class consisted of the basics in coding, as well as generally explaining what it is. In addition, the students did a basic coding exercise that felt like a game. The students had to get an avatar to complete a certain task by correctly programming it to do the right actions. I am very pleased to be participating in this exciting experience and Belleville CEO is proud to have an alliance with the Junior Coding Academy. 

Written by Montez Douglas


Mr. Bill Hughes

President of US Agri-Services Group – Friend of CEO

On Wednesday, Bill Hughes came in and talked to us about his business and the struggles that he went through along the way. He has a lot of determination and is a very motivated person, making him a great role model. He started off with humble beginnings selling seeds and papers door to door and rose through the ranks of college and a variety of careers before ending up at a bank. Combined, these experiences left him well equipped to go off on his own: the goal of any aspiring entrepreneur.

Written by Emma Gregowicz

Student, Jessica Stern, introduced Mr. Hughes before his presentation.
'The Stepping Stones to Success' proved an important role in Mr. Hughes' life as he worked his way to the top.
Mr. Hughes brought a copy of 'Think and Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill for all the CEO students.
Malik Marks-McRath took advantage of Mr. Hughes' knowledge of agriculture while the two chatted after class.

Decoration Meeting at St. Clair Country Club

Several students visited St. Clair Country Club on Thursday to meet with Thad Payne, General Manager of the club and the man who will be coordinating the event. The students brought a game and several mock up ideas to play around with ideas and get Mr. Payne’s ideas. After an hour of brainstorming and discussing, the group finalized several decisions regarding decorations.

Written by Melony Allen

Mr. Payne explained that a simple riser would elevate the centerpiece and give the desired appearance.
The students brought another mock-up to the meeting where Thad expressed both his praise and suggestions for the piece.
Through much experimenting, Mr. Payne showed the students how their ideas would eventually look.
An oversized 'token' piece from the classic Monopoly game is one of many ideas the class has come up with for potential centerpieces.


Recruitment Days

Throughout this week, Belleville CEO has been avidly recruiting for the next class of students. Monday was spent at Althoff, during the Theology classes, where the students gave a brief presentation and handed out applications. Althoff senior, Sandy Amorado, “found it very exciting that other students are intrigued in the program that has taught me a lot about myself and the business world.” On Thursday, we had a booth at Belleville West High School where “we had some very talented juniors come and talk to us about being future CEO students.” (Alan Plantz) And on Friday, the Belleville East students enthusiastically recruited during lunch hours. Overall the process was quite successful and we are happy to welcome in the next generation to the CEO family.

Written by Jessica Stern

The CEO table was bustling with eagar students - all excited for the Belleville CEO class.
Belleville East student, Montez Douglas, explained and gave an application to a potential student.
Malik Marks-McRath (Belleville East) was more than happy to sit down and explain the program to any potential student.
David Rauckman (Belleville East) traveled around the cafeteria to recruit juniors.

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

On Wednesday I was happy to have Mr. Hughes in. I was really excited to hear him speak and talk about business because he really is successful and has done a lot for himself. Probably the biggest thing I took from his lecture was the “stepping stones to better jobs” – he coined perseverance as an important aspect of success too. My gosh he is the epitome of that statement. I did not realize he’d had so many jobs. A few quotes stuck out to me: “I thought I’d be a real asset to someone” and “if you’re not good at something then find someone who is” (repeating theme in our class) – “learn from everyone and know what you don’t know – you don’t have to be everything to everybody”. Of course then there is the “respond quickly to all issues in this day and age there really is no reason you shouldn’t get back within 3-9 hours” and “never tell a client you can’t do something! Find someone who can.” He also said we should give back and I agreed when he said “I always hated when people say that until I really did have something to give back.” And then he told us that his first boss asked “you don’t lie, cheat, or steal, do you?” “Well no” “You can learn can’t you?” – that is funny. Very witty man. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. 

 Overall I think this has been a good week for CEO. I’m proud of my classmates for all they’ve done so for and when they do push themselves. Many aspects of our class business are hard and CEO gives you a chance to push yourself into those real life situations – Erik negotiated with the BND, Montez nailed in the final sponsor, in fact, everyone was working to get a sponsor. I feel like we’re on the right track for our business and I’m excited to see it through.

 Written by Jessica Stern

The week began at the City Hall. We met with Mayor Eckert in the lobby then made our way to the conference room. Usually, when you think of any person in power, you have a preconceived notion that they are stern and stuck up. Eckert was the complete opposite. He was very humble and passionate about turning around the city of Belleville, especially downtown Belleville. He discussed how millions of dollars have gone into flipping Belleville. He wants to make it the lively place it once was when he was younger. While he does not have a lot of college education, he claims to be a learner of experience, which I personally believe is the best type of education. You can go through all of the schooling in the world but can’t truly learn unless you go out and experience it for yourself. Eckert is also very passionate about following his convictions and encouraging us students to do the same. He stands firmly for what he believes in which shows as he turns around Belleville.

 On Wednesday, Bill Hughes from U.S. Agriculture Services Group visited the class. He buys, sells and manages farms all around the country. I loved his story of how he’s struggled financially almost all of his life. Any rags to riches story touches me because I hope to have the same fate someday. Hughes has worked lots of small, low paying jobs in his life and even broke and out of work. He’s managed to build himself up and turn his situation around. He also had lots of great philosophies. One of my favorites were “If it’s due Friday, get it done Thursday.” My procrastination problem holds me back from being the absolute best I can be. It has improved but I still have my days were I’ll put something off to the very last possible minute. As a future business owner, I realize that this is a habit I must break to be successful.

 On Thursday, I went to the country club to meet with Thad. I’m so happy that the centerpieces and decorations are almost all finalized! Thad was such a huge help and I appreciate all of his input. This event is going to come together so nicely and I’m happy to be a large part of it.

 Written by Melony Allen

CEO never fails to bring something new to the program. Whether it be a new speaker, a new project, or just new ideas. This week the class got to go to City Hall and listen to the mayor speak about himself and tell us a little about how he runs things around Belleville. On top of two great speakers, we met our sponsor goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I’m sad I missed recruitment day on Monday because I love telling people about CEO, but it sounded like the other Althoff students did a great job.

 Tuesday was fun because I knew little about the Belleville mayor other than his name. I was impressed with all their renovations they plan on doing in the near future. All the ideas like having a balcony upstairs, metal detectors, and making the building handicap accessible sounded like great ideas. A quote that the mayor said was, “I am the CEO.” I liked this because he is basically in charge of the decisions regarding the city. “You run out of good employees if you don’t enforce rules with the bad ones.” I like this one because it is true about a company because if you don’t enforce rules then there will be chaos and nobody will take you seriously. I was amazed with how much Mayor Eckert has brought Belleville back to life. Something he said that stuck with me was how he mentioned that he is not in this job for the money. Many jobs are like that, you like it but don’t make as much as you would like, or you have a job you don’t love, but make a lot of money. I would rather make a decent amount with a job I love because why waste everyday doing something you don’t enjoy doing.

 I am so happy that we got all of our sponsors for the Gala!! I honestly thought it was going to be a lot harder to sell 22 sponsors, but we did it! Now we need to focus on selling tickets because that is where we are going to be making the rest of our income. If we all set personal and class goals I think we can sell a lot more tickets. I am happy with where we are now though!!

 Written by Heather Gosebrink

It was good to get back to some normalcy this week.  I was really impressed on the amount of work that was accomplished awhile I was gone. As the event gets closer and closer, I get more excited. I'm also super glad that we got all our sponsors for the board. Crotty will be happy to have all of them at once.

 Being in Honduras really changed my way of thinking, so I think I'm going to find a way to incorporate giving some of my profits back to the village that I stayed in. I'm not sure how I would get the money there because they don't have a postal system, but I really want to find a way how.

 Getting to visit the mayor was a cool experience. We was more personable and friendly than I thought he would be. I give major Kudos to him, because he's basically the CEO of Belleville 24/7. Although being Mayor may have its pros, I'm sure there are a lot of cons. And I think that goes for being the CEO of any business. Mr. Eckert had a lot of wise advice to give to us, but my favorite thing he said was about building relationships. That starts the beginning of everything else he told us about such as surrounding yourself with good people, having good character, smile and chill out, and giving back. All these things start with building relationships. I believe every person you meet, you meet them for a reason. Maybe that person isn't significant in your life at this moment, but eventually down the road that same person can forever change your life.

Mr. Hughes had some pretty crazy stories! But he showed that he really enjoyed what he was doing and I think that's the most important thing for me to find whenever I choose my career path. Personally I enjoyed how he talked about the power of prayer. All the things I have accomplished and the things I will accomplish are all because of God and I thought it was awesome that Mr. Hughes was able to boldly profess his faith. I also liked how he said that at points in his life, his situation seemed like a blow at the time, but looking back, they were all stepping stones to something greater.

 Written by Aliyah Gillespie


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