The Kankakee County CEO program seeks to prepare youth to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers and contribute to economic development and sustainable communities. The CEO program is much more than a textbook course. Students are immersed in real life learning experiences with the opportunity to take risks, manage the results, and learn from the outcomes.
Applicants are still being accepted! Click here to apply.
Our local business community partners with area schools to create project-based experiences for students by providing funding, expertise, meeting space, business tours, and one-on-one mentoring. Students earn high school credit upon successfully completing the two-semester course.
CEO students visit area businesses, learn from guest speakers, participate in a class business, write business plans, and start and operate their own businesses. Business concepts learned through the experiential CEO class are critical; the 21st century skills of problem-solving, teamwork, self-motivation, responsibility, higher-order thinking, communication, and inquiry are at the heart of a student’s development throughout the course.
The CEO program is locally managed by a board of directors composed of professionals from our own business community, and is powered by Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship.