If you’re not growing your network, you’re missing so many opportunities. 70% of all jobs are networking. CEO is a program in Jackson County that, among other things, expends your network tremendously. The average CEO student connects with 40-50 people.

Jackson CEO is taught by a facilitator who has experience with small businesses, with the CEO program as a whole being taught by mostly small business owners. Everyone who participates in Jackson CEO partakes in multiple projects and challenges.

One of these challenges is the 1-100 challenge. “Students are given $1 to turn into $100 by buying low and selling high” Nic Skovgaard, the current facilitator of Jackson CEO, states for the 1-100 challenge. “So far the challenge has had 100% success rate.”

When Skovgaard was asked about how he heard about CEO, he said that, “Aur Beck connected me to CEO. When the facilitator spot opened, I didn’t apply because I didn’t want to hang up my company. The second time the opportunity came about, I sprung for the opportunity.”

Adreanna Edgar, a current Jackson CEO student who is a junior at Trico High School and started Mugs of Fire, said that she took the class because, “Nic was so friendly and it seemed like a good opportunity to learn about the real world.”

Pretty much everyone across the board said that even if you’re not interested in launching a business, CEO is an extremely worthwhile class to take. “I didn’t even want to be an entrepreneur but I wanted to take the class to see how a business runs.” Edgar stated. Pretty much everyone across the board also said that their favorite project in the class was the class business.

Brian Croft, a member of the Jackson CEO board, said that he “really likes the collaborative piece [of the class business]. I think even this year given the nature, I thought you all did a great job adapting to COVID…” If you’re interested in partaking in Jackson CEO, you can apply at their website by March 6th. Even if you’re not interested in the class or are ineligible for the class, you can follow the page on Facebook.