CEO students tour downtown buildings

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Students in the Career Education Opportunity (CEO) program participated in their own private “hidden spaces” event on Tuesday as Van Wert County Foundation (VWCF) Executive Secretary Seth Baker and his staff provided tours of buildings purchased as part of the Van Wert Forward downtown development project.

The spaces toured included the upper stories of the Rhoades Insurance building on the southwest corner of Main and Washington streets, the upper stories of the building housing attorney Dillon Staas’ law practice on the northeast corner of Washington and Main, and the former CJ’s Side Pockets in the 100 block of North Washington Street.

The tours gave the CEO students a “before” look at the historic downtown buildings prior to the start of renovation of the structures as part of the Van Wert Forward development project. That’s important, said CEO Program Director Kerry Koontz, adding that, hopefully, students will get the chance to see the buildings in 5 or 10 years and understand what developers started with.

“We’re trying to better educate the students as to the downtown development process of what our businesses are provided and make that connection,” Koontz noted.

The group of 46 students was split into three groups for the tours of the buildings, all part of Van Wert Forward’s Phase 1 development project, with VWCF tour guides providing information on what was planned for the building spaces — primarily retail business, food service, or residential uses.

Koontz also talked about the CEO program, which now serves all three county school districts, noting that, while the program has faced some COVID-19-related challenges, it continues to provide high school seniors with internships with area businesses that give them the opportunity to learn whether they want to pursue a particular career.

“They are getting some great exposure and making some good connections and learning about professions, which is the whole goal,” he said, adding that he is now seeing former CEO students working at businesses in the community where he shops. “They’ve been hired; that’s really exciting.”