Day 55 - The Sky is the Limit

Day 55 - As I left the Keller Convention Center after spending a little time at the 2015 CEO National Trade Show I noticed the sky, this cloud in particular.  I was glad I had my camera, which I normally do in order to try and capture it's beauty.  I don't think I quite captured all of it, but you can get some of what I saw.

I thought it was fitting to notice something in the sky after going through the 25 exhibits inside.  I believe the sky is the limit for the kids involved in the CEO National Trade Show.  I was very impressed with their products, but what impressed me even more was the way high school kids presented themselves in such a confident manner.  I felt like they had been in business and dealing with trade shows for years.  I believe that Craig Lindvahl has brought such a wonderful thing to the schools that are offering this class.

I have always been a fan of Craig, he was the reason Josh, a Teutopolis High School Student at the time, was allowed to be a part of the Multimedia class that was held at Effingham High School.  He enjoyed the class, learned a lot and met a lot of very talented media students.  He was so proud to be a part of the AHA film festival and to have been able to act in a number of the different short films.  I remember well when the Teutopolis band was led by Craig, it was fun to watch the camaraderie he had with the band members. T-Town still has a great band, don't get me wrong, but back in the days that Mr. Lindvahl was at the helm it was like a well oiled machine.   Watching the THS Band back then was like viewing a masterpiece.  As a spectator, it appeared that the members of the band worked hard to be good, but always seemed to enjoy it at the same time.

I guess as I left the CEO Trade Show I realized how the lucky students that have been allowed to participate in this class are.  And that because of this class they are leaps and bounds ahead of so many kids as they leave high school.  Will everyone of their businesses thrive, probably not.  But I do believe that they have a much better chance of being a successful part of this country's future due in part to the skills they have learned from this class.  If this group of young adults is any indicator of the ones that will be running our country, there is a pretty good future ahead for all of us.

So many times the troubled youth are the ones getting all the headlines and attention.  I honestly believe if we gave kids like the ones I saw this evening more press and the thugs in the world a lot less of it the world would be a better place.  Too many young kids are looking up to the ones that are causing trouble because that is all they hear about and see on television.  If the media would concentrate more on these success stories and less on the opposite the kids would see that the path these students are taking is much better than the alternative.

I would love to have had the opportunity to take a CEO class when I was in high school.  If Craig decided tomorrow that he was going to start one for adults I would ask where do we sign up because learning is a never ending thing.  No matter what our age we can always better ourselves, we can always better our situation and education is never a bad thing.

To Craig Lindvahl and all the teachers of the CEO Trade classes and to the many students that have been lucky enough to take the class KUDOS TO YOU.  Thanks for making the future brighter and I wish much success to each and every one of you.