Elementary school student entrepreneurs from West Mound have teamed up with their older schoolmates at Hilltonia Middle School in a quest to transform dreams into tangible business plans. The collaboration is part of the Building CEOs 101 program, aimed at nurturing the spark of entrepreneurship in students at a young age. One vivid example is Mason Samon, a fifth grader who, after witnessing a fire while with his parents, conceptualized 360 Hawk – a drone enterprise geared toward firefighting in critical conditions.
Building on the foundation of creativity and problem-solving, these students are being coached on the essentials of starting a business—from crafting a vision to pitching with confidence. As reported by Columbus City Schools, Samon enhanced his idea with the help of his mentor, an eighth grader. For ten weeks, students like Samon get to wear the entrepreneur's hat, conceiving ideas that potentially address real-world issues. They gathered inspiration at the Idea Foundry in Franklinton, a local makerspace, and ultimately presented their visions at the program's final showcase.
Antonio Smith, CEO of Clean Enterprises, the group behind the curriculum, is a proponent of harnessing early-stage creativity. Smith expressed, as stated by Columbus City Schools, "A lot of our young people have really, really great ideas at an early age," highlighting the program's role in teaching students to tap into available resources to manifest those ideas. The program culminates with students researching business names and learning about seeking the right type of funding to kickstart their ventures.
Initiatives like Building CEOs 101 are carving out a space for leadership among students at different levels of education. Diane Campbell, a CCS Region 1 Principal Coach, underscored the importance of leadership development among the participants. "Each time they arrive, they have a job. They have a group of students they get to motivate," Campbell told Columbus City Schools, speaking to the dynamic between the mentors and their younger peers.
This inter-school partnership is proving beneficial for mentors as well. Hilltonia eighth-grader Gabriella Martinez Ginn found the experience rewarding, revealing, according to Columbus City Schools, "It’s just been really fun and nice to help [students] realize that at a young age, they can go into business and make their own money." Building CEOs 101 is as much about kindling youthful imaginations as it is about imparting practical skills that may shape the business leaders of tomorrow.
