Local Students Learn Entrepreneurship, Faith and Community Driven Work

On November 25 students from Central Christian High School spent a full school day visiting local organizations and attending practical workshops as part of the school districts first Business and Entrepreneurship Symposium. Morning field visits took students to 15 local organizations across Wayne, Holmes and Stark counties including ProVia in Strasburg and Deli Ohio in Canton. The afternoon program featured 17 sessions led by 20 speakers from small business, nonprofit and corporate backgrounds.

Sessions were built around practical skills and purpose driven business concepts. One breakout called Business Is Not a Dirty Word, Using Profit for a Purpose was led by Melanie Reusser Garcia of the Wayne County Community Foundation. Students worked in teams to develop and pitch original business concepts, and they heard from owners and managers about career pathways, day to day operations and how personal values can guide workplace decisions.

Organizers Principal Nate Holton and teachers Maggie Coblentz and Lydell Steiner said the goal was to give students tangible exposure to entrepreneurship and to show how faith and service can intersect with careers. Students and school leaders reported that integrating faith and business was a meaningful component of the day and that many participants left with a clearer idea of how their skills and values might shape work in traditional businesses, nonprofits or mission driven ventures. The school plans to make the themed symposium an annual event.

For Holmes County the symposium serves as workforce development in action. Direct contact between students and local employers can help create pipelines into regional jobs, support retention of young talent and connect community needs with entrepreneurial solutions. When students learn to apply business skills to social problems, there is potential to address social determinants of health, expand local services and support nonprofit capacity. Those outcomes matter for public health, economic stability and social equity in a rural county where localized initiatives often determine access to care and opportunity.

By pairing classroom learning with site visits and practical workshops the symposium aimed to strengthen ties between schools, employers and community leaders. As Central Christian moves to make the event recurring, the model offers a template for other local schools seeking to prepare students for work that combines livelihood, service and purpose.