The White County “CEO” program (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities) have spent the weeks since school started visiting area businesses and seeing first-hand the ins and outs of running a company. Soon, the students in the program will shift their focus and begin to create, from concept to reality, a business of their own (Mack Knight – Coffee /Tea stand, Sarah Jane Gray – Succulents/Cactus/Aloe Vera, Trenton Johnson – Art/Ceramics, Kennedy Cook – Grace Jewelry, Killee Roser – Trail Mix/Nut Butters) that they will showcase at the White County CEO annual trade show this spring.
But before that, all members of the class must first come together to collaborate in demonstrating everything they’ve learned in their CEO experience to date, to create a “class business.” For the class business, all students must agree on an idea for an event, write a business plan, present it to their program’s advisory board for approval, identify committees within their group with well-defined responsibilities to coordinate all logistics.
Members of the White County CEO program, Mack Knight, Sarah Jane Gray, Trenton Johnson, Kennedy Cook, and Kilee Roser, along with their leader Tracy Orr, were guests on WROY’s Open Line program Thursday and student Sarah Jane Gray explains this year’s class business…
“This year we have started a class business called “CEO: The Green Project.” It is basically offering a different lifestyle of sustainable products to the community that Carmi doesn’t really have to begin with. We were wanting to offer something so people could see the change and see the effect that they have on our community and our world.”
And with that, the White County CEO program has partnered with ELASTEC to hold a Community Cleanup Day this Saturday, January 25th in the ELASTEC parking lot at 1309 W. Main Street from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. Student Trenton Johnson describes the day’s events…
“We will be selling our Green Bags which have a lot of different items to help families go more eco-friendly. In those bags, the items we have, sponsored by companies in White County to help make it more affordable for families and to make our profits higher to start our individual businesses. We have partnered with ELASTEC to have it in their parking lot across from McDonald’s. They will have their incinerator there to be burning litter that people picked up off the road. That’s pretty exciting to do because most people don’t even know what ELASTEC is. None of us knew whenever we started. They’re actually a pretty cool company that’s all over the world, but based here in Carmi. We are also going to be selling desserts and drinks and Caveman Kitchen food truck is going to be there too. We will also be having silent auction items that people can bid on. Those all kind of fit our eco-friendly theme based on different things already offered by businesses in the community.”
Among the items in the Green Bags are reusable water bottles, bamboo cutlery, and wool dryer balls.
White County citizens are encouraged to pick up trash, litter and debris from their neighborhoods and public areas. You are then invited to bring your collected litter to the ELASTEC facility for proper disposal in their SmartAsh Portable incinerator, which burns debris without creating smoke, fumes, or odor. Hazardous waste, chemicals, paint cans, electronics, yard wasted, appliances and large trash will not be accepted.
The White County CEO students will also have a recycling bin on site to collect recyclable glass, plastic, aluminum and tin to be recycled through Carmi’s recycling center. They are doing so to promote awareness that Carmi DOES HAVE a recycling center through the City of Carmi at 306 Pleasant Street. If you have any questions, you can email [email protected]. Or contact Brian Cook at ELASTEC at [email protected].
