State superintendent tours CHS Industries, Mattoon LIFT

They put those skills into practice on Thursday as they gave presentations about their vocational programs to State Superintendent Tony Sanders during his site tours there, as well to as other visiting officials.

Mattoon High School senior Brodie Rentfro, who is enrolled in the Leadership Institute at LIFT, was among those leading presentations. Rentfro said he enrolled as someone who was shy and stammered while speaking. He said his experiences there, including job shadowing at the Coles County Courthouse, have since given him confidence and the desire to become a prosecutor.

“LIFT has put my life in focus and helped pave the road for me,” Rentfro said of this regional high school vocational training program, located in a renovated downtown office building.

The students spoke to Sanders, Illinois State Board of Education members, Regional Superintendent of Schools Kyle Thompson, state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, and local business and government leaders. The LIFT tour group also included Sean Covey and other representatives of the FranklinCovey coaching company, from which the Leadership Institute there draws its curriculum.

Thompson said that Sanders, who was previously superintendent of School District U-46 in Elgin, has made it a priority to try to visit a different school district every week since he was named as state superintendent in January 2023.

“His accessibility is fantastic,” Thompson said.

During his visit to Charleston High School, Thompson met with CHS Industries vocational program students working in the Trojan Brew coffee shop and the Trojan Design center in the newly renovated 400 classroom section on the north side of the building.

Students in the adjacent Trojan A & M Center also spoke with Thompson. This expanded facility houses agriculture, construction, small engine mechanics, and other trades classroom and workshop spaces, plus a greenhouse.

“Thanks for letting the students lead the conversations. They did a great job,” Thompson said afterward while speaking with administrators and teachers.

Senior Parker Pounds and junior Kaylin Nolte, who are interns in the Trojan A & M Center, gave presentations there. Nolte, who plans to major in an agriculture science-related field, said she loves studying and working at this center, particularly interacting with customers at the annual plant sale there.