Brett Rowe
About Me
I am a senior at Belleville East High School. I became interested in business after a trip with my uncle. While applying for senior classes, I heard about CEO through my counselor and I knew I wanted to learn more about business.
I am a part of Rho Kappa, which consists of only 50 students. I also play on the varsity golf team at my school.
I am very smart, outgoing and driven to reach my goals I have written for myself. After graduation, I plan to attend a four year university. I am currently deciding between Murray State, Alabama, Iowa State University and Arizona State University.
About My Business
My Featured Journal Entries
This week was one of our final weeks in CEO, and that’s just absolutely crazy. This school year has gone by way faster than I ever expected, also I feel like we’ve all accomplished so much in these last couple of months. We have started a business, as a group. Which turned out great, also one of the largest in Belleville CEO and maybe even larger than any other CEO group. We have been to over 80 businesses in the Metro East in the last 9 months. I feel like I have learned a lot from many of the businesses that we have visited, and some of the businesses I have never heard of or even knew what they do. What we learned from these businesses ended up helping us in starting our own companies. Information that you can’t learn in a regular classroom, which is why I took this class. I took this class to have a better understanding of business and to also build connections that I wouldn’t have had without hearing about the class through some other people who took it. This class has helped me with being more responsible and more accountable for myself only. Not only that, but I’ve made more friends because of CEO; which is pretty cool. Overall I think taking the CEO class was one of my best decisions I have made because I have learned more from this class than I have all 4 years of high school. I feel like this class has helped us be more prepared for college and the real world. It has been a great year, full of memories and knowledge that I’ll always remember. We are all going to do something great someday, and I can’t wait to see where we will all be one day. Let’s see what week 36 can bring Belleville CEO!!
05/04/2018
This week out of our many, has been my favorite by far. We had some great speakers with some amazing presentations. My favorite guest speaker would have to be Ann Hand; who we skyped in order to talk. I actually liked skyping more than when some people come in to present, or maybe it was because her job was more appealing. Ann Hand is the CEO of Super League Gaming, which is a gaming community that has spread country wide. The league consists of multiple teams from some of the largest cities in the United States. It is so awesome that we have the opportunity to meet and talk with business owners that we do.
Before starting CEO, I really didn’t know what a lot of the businesses around town truly did; I also didn’t know the people who ran them. That’s what I like about CEO, we really get to know and learn about the ins and outs of our local businesses. My favorite and only visit this week was going to the Chick-Fil-A in Fairview Heights. We met with mentor Matt Gilreath, we talked about his family business and how great of an organization Chick-Fil-A is. Matt was telling our class how he was able to go to Chick-Fil-A’s corporate office and met the owners of the company. Not only that, the owners and CEO knew who he was. That’s what I like about Chick-Fil-A, they are a very personal business; they truly care about their employees and their customers’ needs. I think many businesses should model after their business model, in the public eye, they are known as having the best service. All in all, week 34 was a lot of fun and I felt like I learned quite a bit. Let’s see what week 35 can bring Belleville CEO!
04/27/2018
I think the trade show went very well, there was quite a bit of people who came. I gave away all of my business cards, which is a great sign. I also had many people ask if I could work on some of their furniture. All in all, it was a lot of fun. It was awesome to see everyone’s businesses.
04/20/2018
On Thursday, we had another meet and greet with possible mentors. It was exciting to express my ideas for my own business. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback, and everyone seems pretty intrigued by the concept. Mrs. Boyer got me some connections with people she knows, so I could try making my product. I really appreciate that, this really proves that this class is not a joke. When I first signed up, I kinda thought it was just like a mock startup class. But in reality, I have mentors and classmates who really want this to work. I really want my business to take off, I know that businesses don't take off overnight; but I really want everyone's business to kick off nicely. We are all in this together, we all want everyone to succeed. I can’t wait to see where we all end up in 10 years from now. Where everyone will live, and what everyone's been doing since the last time we all saw each other. I saw this quote the other day, that stated “ If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti quoted this, he’s a very world renowned race car driver. Even though it may more correlate with racing, I also believe it deals with life as well. In life, you're not supposed to be plush; there are many obstacles you have to overcome in order to pursue your dreams. I feel like when you're starting a business, it shouldn't be so easy. Same with personal things, life is something you can really control. You just have to buckle up and enjoy the ride.
10/06/2017
This week was the most fruitful week regarding our badge project and sponsors. We as a class have received our total amount of platinum sponsors, which is $250 each. Not only did we meet our platinum sponsor goal this week, but we are also starting to draw up and decide who we are going through for our shirts. We have been in touch with multiple shirt companies so far, but the shirt estimate costs are very high. With the shirts being a large sum of money, I decided to ask around and build some connection. Luckily, my mom's coworker has a friend who works at Standard Rule. So I scheduled a meeting with the contact my mom gave me, and hopefully we can work out some type of deal. If we could get our shirts for free, then we will save more money for our class business. That’s why I’m really trying to make this deal work, so wish Cam and I luck.
Besides our badge project, we met with some more business owners. We met Brian Mentzer, who is the superintendent for the Belleville 201 district. Not only does he hold an important position for the schools in Belleville, but Brian and his family also own multiple businesses around our city. Businesses like M&M storage and West End Car Wash. I would have never known that him and his family owned so many prevalent businesses if it weren’t for this class. Brian himself bought three barges, which are used to haul corn and feed that are sent up and down the Mississippi River. Brian plans that the money he gets from the barges can be used to pay off his three sons’ college tuition. The barges cost between $400000-$600000, which gradually pay themselves off. I think it was a great idea; hopefully it works out for them! Besides the storage facilities and car wash, Brian decided to get into racing. All three of his sons used to race Sprint cars. I thought that was cool, especially coming from a racing family myself. Overall, this week was very interesting, and fulfilling.
I think it’s awesome that our project is actually making more headway, instead of just proposals. This week was great and I can’t wait to see what week 5 has to bring us, hopefully more sponsors!
09/17/2017