Members of the 2020-2021 Union County CEO class included, in the first row, from left, Jaley Watkins, Lilli Mason, Olivia Capel, Julia Hall, Aubrey Fisher, Madilyn Gawrych-Turner and Darrian Quick. In the second row are Will Halter, Lexie Lingle, Maddox Thorpe, Nate Belcher, Nate Baggott and Emily White. The photo was taken during CEO program’s recent celebration.

Union County CEO program presents scholarships

Something new was added to the end of year CEO Celebration this year.  

Thanks to the generosity and hard work of previous CEO classes who have “given back” by setting up a scholarship fund, six $250 awards were given.

The awards were not only to help with college expenses, but also for those receiving training in other ways or who wanted to further build their entrepreneurial experiences.  

The scholarship recipients included Emily White, Aubrey Fisher, Addison Osman, Jayclynn Presutti, Grace Pitts and Erin Dillow.

Excerpts from the scholarship award winners’ applications follow:

Class of 2021, Emily White

Emily will be attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the fall, majoring in business administration and marketing.

My CEO experience has empowered me to look towards a better future and has transformed my understanding of my local community. 

This experience has inspired newfound confidence within myself. 

At the beginning of the year, I confined myself to a very small shell. I often stuck to my comfort zone and couldn’t be persuaded to leave it. 

However, this soon faded as the requirements of CEO proved to be out of my ordinary. 

I truly feel that I have been transformed as a person into a better version of my former self which will allow me to take action and realize my full potential in the future. 

My view of Union County has changed tremendously during this year. 

At the beginning of the year, I could not see a successful future within Union County for myself. 

I truly believed that small equated insignificant. Yet, I missed what makes our small community special. Beginning with the fact that our community can support and welcome a CEO class. 

Everywhere we go, CEO is known and doors are opened as a result. 

With the creation of the class business, we relied on individuals sitting on the board and so many businesses within the community, all of which, with open arms, welcomed us and as a result we experienced success.

I want to take this opportunity to further reflect on what this program has done for me and thank the board members for this opportunity and continued support. 

I realize that life can often be very busy, yet our board members have shown dedication and invested time, energy, and money into sustaining this program. 

While I’m not aware of all the behind-the-scenes activities of the financing of this program, I realize that it’s not a simple task to reach out to get investors and other donors.   

Thank you to all of them too. My point is, I credit much of my growth this past year to CEO, so please know your work truly pays off in students’ lives.

Class of 2021, Aubrey Fisher

Aubrey will be attending Washington University in St. Louis on a pre-med track, to major in neuroscience and minor in political science.

CEO taught me just how real and achievable the accomplishments and experiences in this world are. 

Whether you reside in a town with a population less than 2,000 or live in the middle of New York City, the opportunities are there, you just have to identify and work for them. 

This concept became most prevalent to me whilst I was sitting in Mr. Jim Farris’ office, awaiting his arrival one afternoon. 

There I was, sitting on his couch with the knowledge that in mere minutes I would have the ear of the head of an actual hospital.

I never would have imagined my being granted such an opportunity, not even in college. 

Yet, moments later I was chatting with him about a global pandemic like it was a regular Tuesday occurrence. 

CEO’s capability to present me with such experiences taught me to dream bigger. 

The thought that my dreams weren’t big enough had never crossed my mind. I thought my dreams were plenty big and was fully content with their shiny appeal. Little did I know, there was more to dream. 

Now, because of instances like that moment in Mr. Farris’ office, my mind has learned the value of envisioning far more for my life than what is seen at surface level. 

If I, at 17, can speak with the CEO of a hospital about world events, imagine what I can do at 20, or even 30. 

My future is brighter than I ever thought possible because of the way the CEO program ingrained within my mind the desire to dream, think, and live… bigger.

How has my view of Union County changed this year?  I did not have the best opinion of Union County when I first started this program, and I was skeptical of all the local business hype that we were hearing. I’ve lived in this county my whole life, wouldn’t I know if it were really that great? 

With each site visit, my opinion of the county began to change. 

Seeing the way Curt’s Classics does business overseas was the first indication of many that this county is full of hidden gems. 

Suddenly, instead of wanting to drive to Carbondale or Cape to spend money, I was excited to visit HeBrewz CoffeeHouse to get my mother and me a latte after class or Davis Pastry to get an afterschool snack. 

I started to think about the impact my money had and the way I could give that to people in my community.

The impact wasn’t just food-based, either. Moury Bass from WIBH helped me to record my Voice of Democracy essay speech. Tom Jones from Farmers State Bank provided me with my first Christmas Around the Community sponsorship. Sam O’Neal from Union County Market gave me a firsthand account of the toilet paper struggle of 2020. Randy Lambdin from Lambdin Farms supplied a deeper understanding of just how hard, but insanely advanced, farm life is.

My view of Union County has most certainly changed, and for the better. 

Now, when I come home from college, I will be eager to buy a pastry and shop vintage books on Main Street, grab a large frozen caramel latte in Jonesboro, and drive by Master’s Choice thinking about the sauna story.

Class of 2020, Addison Osman

Addison Osman will be returning to the University of Mississippi, where she is majoring in secondary education/social studies.

My CEO experience, even though cut short due to Covid, was impactful in my life, and it will continue to be so. 

My communication and people skills are completely changed for the better. I used to be nervous to go up to a person I did not know especially for advice or help. 

Now, I confidently shake someone’s hand and introduce myself. Learning how to be comfortable in business with others also helps me in my merchandise chair position in my sorority. 

I talk to several business owners in Oxford, Mississippi, and work with them to make amazing products. I use advice and skills our class learned from guest speakers to have the best outcome in business with them. 

Also, personally meeting all local business owners was vital. I now have all of Union County, plus some, who would help me in a heartbeat, and I would do the same for them. The alliances and friendships made during my year are unbeatable.

My responsibility and professionalism are beyond others I attend college with because I was prepared. CEO also taught me to take initiative like Mr. Lindvahl did. 

I think all CEO students carry a little bit of Mr. Lindvahl in them. I know I do and knowing that has helped me with so many opportunities in my life so far.

Class of 2020, Jayclynn Presutti

Jayclynn will be transferring from Shawnee Community College to SIUC to major in animal sciences.  She also is employed by a local business.  

CEO has given me more possibilities than I imagined. 

I am now working for a company that has given me complete access to their social media to communicate efficiently with customers and market our inventory. 

I use the skills that CEO taught me to do just that. I feel as though I was offered this position at such a young age due to the professional standards that I hold myself to, thanks to the help of the CEO program. 

Although I do not own the business I work for, I would like to think that I embody the spirit of Craig Lindvahl with responsibility, professionalism, leadership, and entrepreneurial thinking within this business. 

I am responsible for our website, our social media, and all our files. I dress a certain way and talk to people in appropriate ways and hold myself to the professional standards in which CEO held me to. I step up and speak out in this field. 

I am also finding ways to pursue new routes and passions in this field. 

I am not Craig Lindvahl, but I use what he taught us, every day. I want to be a better person, friend, and employee in the field I am in. I take on more responsibilities as time goes on, I gain new professional skills every day, I lead teams and coworkers every day, and I use my entrepreneurial thinking to help create and explore new options for this business every single day.

CEO also helped me really come out of my shell and give back when it comes to helping within the community, I now volunteer at my church, I am a volunteer coach for t-ball and a volunteer umpire for 8-12U teams. CEO taught me to follow my passions and I believe I am doing just that.

I would like to thank the CEO Board for their generosity to the class of 2020. It was an odd year, and many obstacles were thrown our way, but you have continuously reached out to help us in more ways than expected. We appreciate it more than words could express.

Class of 2018, Grace Pitts

Grace will continue her studies in biomedical sciences at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.

CEO has taught me skills that I can use in the professional world. My interview skills wouldn’t be the way they are now without CEO. 

I have made so many connections in my one year of being a CEO member, I can’t go a week without seeing someone we visited and spoke to. Every time I pass a local business that we met with, I always go down CEO memory lane.

CEO has built my confidence and has taught me a sense of professionalism that other people miss out on. I firmly believe CEO put me a level up compared to others when I left high school.  

At my job, I am an assistant to a microbiologist/professor/building coordinator. 

Days when she is not there, I am the one who takes her place. I have the responsibility of making sure everyone has what they need (students and professors) and I make sure that the department has what they need from me. 

Through my sense of professionalism, I have made such great connections with professors in many departments that I feel secure if I ever need help.

Being a CEO team member, we got to see how Union County thrives. 

Every behind the scenes visit we had, I became more and more proud of being from Union County. 

Being Miss Union County, I have learned that Union County is truly unique compared to other Illinois counties, even though a lot of people don’t see it. 

Our little Union County world might be small, but it has a big impact on people’s lives. It is such a tight-knit and loving community, and it deserves to be recognized for being a great place to live.

Union County CEO keeps getting better year after year, and it makes me so happy to hear people compliment CEO and its team members. I am a very proud CEO alumna.

Class of 2017, Erin Dillow

Erin is completing her bachelor of science degree in nursing at Southeast Missouri State University. 

My biggest takeaways from the CEO experience were how to always work my hardest to “exceed expectations” and my continual perfecting of my interview skills. 

In my recent interview for the Nurse Extern position at Southeast Hospital, which I received, I was able to be confident in myself and my answers. 

Thanks to CEO, I was able to explain that one thing that set me apart from my peers was that I understood that the hospital also has to be run like a business, and that having that knowledge helps me appreciate certain policies, procedures, and liability situations more than a nurse that wouldn’t understand how a business has to operate to stay afloat.

I am beyond thankful for my time with the CEO program. As a member of the 2017 Union County CEO program, I learned so many life lessons that I carry with me every day in my college and nursing career. 

The relationships made in this program are life-long ones, and many times I have used the resources of relationships made through CEO to help further my educational and extracurricular goals. I have CEO to thank for many things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
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