In the professional world, the word CEO means chief executive officer. Around EHS, CEO has another meaning: Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities. 

CEO is a business class that educates students with hands-on interactions with business owners.

Unlike most classes at EHS, CEO is not taught traditionally. “It’s a really fun class because it’s not like a normal class…and we aren’t just sitting…getting lectured,” senior Liam Marsh said.

Students learn about the inner-workings of businesses in three ways: in-class instruction, guest speakers and business visits.

“So far we have visited Chef Shoppe and the Sports Academy,” senior Rowan Foley said. 

The students in CEO also visited Goshen Coffee, a local coffee shop, on Thursday. At these business visits, employees and managers educate the students about what it takes to run their specific business. 

If the students do not go to a business site, the business may come to them. 

 “We have a lot of guest speakers, we go to a lot of different places and everybody runs their business differently… There’s so many choices that you could do,” Marsh said.

The class is composed of 20 students from Edwardsville, Metro and Father McGivney High Schools. . senior Kyla Archer is looking forward to the mixing of students from different schools. 

“We all bring something different to the table. We all have different perspectives,” Archer said.

She is also looking forward to “learning more people skills” in CEO. “I tend to be more introverted,” Archer said.

In the few weeks school has been in session, Marsh has noticed a change in his confidence. “I am already seeing that I am getting better at talking to people and communicating better.”

Because of the skills CEO teaches, it is a class for all students. Archer recommended that “literally anyone” should apply for CEO. 

Students hoping to join CEO in the future have business projects to look forward to. 

The badge business project is completed at the beginning of the year. Students find sponsors to produce school ID badges. 

The class business project is completed during the first semester. Students from all three schools collaborate to start a business from scratch. 

The individual business project is started in December and completed during the second semester. Students use their gained knowledge to start and run their own business. 

Foley is especially looking forward to the class business project. 

“I am just really looking forward to… just the whole thing in general,” Foley said. “Like picking out an idea, getting sponsors, putting the whole thing together and then seeing how many people come to our event.”