by Erin Geary

June 23, 2023

There is a pervasive notion that those in middle America are backward.

Elitists believe they lack the intellect or higher education of their coastal brothers, which is why the area is known as fly-over country.

But those that have spent any significant time on a farm realize that these stereotypes are far from the truth. Farmers live remotely and, thus, distant from Home Depot. They are their own handymen seldom hiring outsiders to fix anything on their acreage. Because of that, they have been raised with critical thinking skills due to the hands-on training they’ve received from generations who came before them. Make no mistake, farming is a business where nothing is wasted. It’s also a gamble. More often than not, reliance on Mother Nature creates a need for outside income. For, one year’s boon can become next year’s loss.

To stay afloat, most who work the land or raise livestock rely on other business ventures.

In Effingham, Illinois, for example, it is common for farmers to also own a business in town. They think outside the box to remain in the black either through their own brick and mortar shops or producing items for other’s brick and mortar shops.

Whether having been raised on a farm or not, there is entrepreneurship in the air in Effingham.

Tuscan Hills Winery, Firefly Grill, and Boos are only a few of the known entities in the area. But other other entrepreneurs are under the radar to those of us living farther north.

While visiting friends and grabbing lunch at Joe Sippers Café, we noticed a small group of middle-school aged children and their camp counselor making their way toward the coffee bean roasting area. Most of us remember camp as toasting marshmallows on an open fire, sleeping in tents, and singing camp songs. So, being intrigued, I ended up having a fortuitous encounter with counselor Susan Hanfland of Camp Start-Up. The brainchild of Jeanne Dau.

Camp Start-Up provides entrepreneurial experiences for children aged eleven through fifteen.

Both Jeanne and Susan have been exposing youth to possibilities in business and health fields for decades

Jeanne Dau, founder of Dau Consulting, has a background in business and communications. She worked in the hotel industry before coaching adults and non-profits in strategic planning and entrepreneurship education. Jeanne sat on the board of three non-profits and established four businesses. Both Susan and Jeanne met through The Business Solutions Center at Eastern Illinois University where Jeanne was director. It was there that an entrepreneurship course for high school students was created. The initiative was begun by the EducationCommittee as part of the Effingham Chamber of Commerce’s Vision 2020 initiative.

Susan, who owns SCH Consulting, began her career as a special education teacher. She then received her Master of Administration degree, which gave her the ability to become one of the State of Illinois’ Special Needs Coordinators working with 32 school districts in east central Illinois. She later became the director of the consortium Eastern Illinois Education for Employment System and was responsible for high schools’ Health Occupation classes.

The teaming of Jeanne and Susan at Eastern Illinois University was a great match. Jeanne’s business background and Susan’s educational background helped in the creation of Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO), formerly known as E-3.

Susan and fellow facilitator Craig Lindvahl co-wrote the curriculum for the class. From there, it took off.

Within a few years, Midland States Bank adopted the program helping other communities throughout Illinois and several other states facilitate business and education partnerships to provide high school students an opportunity to have the CEO experience.

This is not a typical classroom course. Local businesses are the touchstone of the CEO program, which connects area high school juniors and seniors being taught by business owners, chief executive officers, bankers, and accountants while also touring businesses in the area and being matched with a mentor. Within the first week, students begin to create a class business, and those monies earned become the seed monies for individual or partnered enterprises during the second semester. The class culminates in a trade show highlighting student initiative.

But what about those middle schoolers?

Even before the first CEO class, Jeanne Dau was offering Camp Start-Up, an annual summer program where youth learn from local business owners and bankers about entrepreneurship.

Unlike CEO, those who participate only have 4 days to soak up all they can from those whose businesses have thrived and those whose businesses have dived. They learn about profits and losses. They learn about business loans. They learn how to write business plans. And most start their own businesses all in a few days.

The cost of camp is just shy of $190 but local businesses fund scholarships for those in need. As Susan said, “There’s a way; there’s always a way.” And with the knowledge gained, that money and more will be recouped if their start- ups are successful.

Beyond the nuts and bolts of learning about how to start and grow a business, be it in the summer program or in the credited high school class, students learn what Jeanne refers to a “basic adulting”—the importance of being on time, making eye contact, shaking hands, public speaking with poise, and writing a thank you note.

By the end of the summer camp, participants present their plans to the business community; and, there is a first, second, and third place winner chosen. This year, two ideas tied for first place and each participant received $50 seed monies to get their businesses started.

Annelea Weiler created Claws and Paws, a pet sitting business with the added benefit of her homemade dog treats while Liv Buehnerkemper’s venture was Babysitting Buddies, which is akin to Angie’s List for babysitting. The third place winners with a prize of $20 were Max Lombardi and Xander Schmidt who developed Shake It Up, a lemonade shake-up stand.

If you’ve ever been to a fair, these drinks are a big hit.

As you can guess, creating entrepreneurial opportunities for kids before they go off to college reaches even the most apathetic student. As a matter of fact, those most successful are usually the ones you wouldn’t expect. As Susan admitted, “Entrepreneurs are not the valedictorians.”

Those that create businesses are dreamers who don’t follow straight paths.

They color outside the lines. But it’s their passion that takes them to greater heights.

True, starting programs like CEO cost money. Thirty-thousand dollars, to be exact. But that cost covers the curriculum itself and the full-year salary of the facilitator who teaches half the day but spends the other half making connections to local businesses and finding mentors for students.

CEO was paid for by local businesspeople in Effingham who realized the benefits of having business savvy youth in the community, and there is an intentional shunning of CEO being inserted in public school curriculum. As Jeanne said, “People in Effingham wanted it independent of public schools.”

This says a great deal about the public’s distrust of the Illinois State Board of Education. Even though there is a state standard for consumer economics Susan said, “Districts are adept at watering things down.” And she’s right.

In Chicago, CPS and the CTU have been doing Chicago’s children a disservice for decades.

Graduating with an inability to read, complete math problems, and write well are hinderances to future employment. Thus, independent programs like CEO and Camp Start-Up would be assets, especially in depressed neighborhoods. The earlier we can get kids involved in understanding basic banking, consumerism, and entrepreneurship the better.

Though CPS’s budget of $9.4 billon could certainly afford CEO or Camp Start-Up programs, the avoidance of bureaucracy and Chicago politics is necessary. The only way to facilitate the growth of these programs is to rely on the generosity of Chicago businesses and business leaders who will foster youth. Honestly, it is in their best interest to do so.

No bureaucracy ever built a business. People build businesses out of a dream. They build businesses from hope.

Furthermore, there is no coddling of participants, which is made clear to parents during orientation. No absences. No tardiness. Come prepared and ready to learn or you’re fired.

These programs teach what it’s going to take to be successful, whether kids and teens create businesses or not.

We need to raise the bar if we plan on having the next generation of doers. Though it is mystifying that our public education system no longer provides high standards for students, it is gratifying to see that there are those like Jeanne and Susan who have blazed new trails.

They still have dreams for that next generation. They still have hope.

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