CEO students showed off their hard work at the CEO Tradeshow on April 29 and 30 at Northpark Mall, 

  CEO (Creating Educational Opportunities) is a Whiteside Area Career Center class where students from all over Whiteside County learn all about being entrepreneurs. They learn about the fundamentals of owning a business all throughout the year and at the end of the year, they host their own business stand at the CEO tradeshow. At the tradeshow, CEO students set up and design their own stand where they introduce their business. They then either try to sell a product or service of their choice. 

  This year there were five S.H.S. students in the class. Each of these students met various business owners from around the county and learned different strategies for being successful. While they all met the same people, their tradeshow businesses were all very different. 

  Juniors Brady Berlin, Olivia Castillo, Jonathan Podolski, Charles Nawrocki, and Tynlee Williams worked all school year to develop their own businesses in preparation for the tradeshow. With businesses ranging from mac and cheese to candles, these students worked hard to succeed. 

  Nawrocki went to the extent of getting his food handlers license this year and used fresh ingredients to make home-ade salsa. Nawrocki felt “it was rewarding to see my hard work pay off at the show.” Nawrocki had a great time and was extremely successful. 

  Alongside Nawrocki, Berlin had a cleaning business that collected customer numbers, Castillo sold patchwork sweatshirts, Podolski had a mac and cheese stand, and Williams had a home-made candle business. 

  The tradeshow is a community favorite as it’s open to the public. Overall, this year’s tradeshow was a success. Everyone involved did amazing.