Over the last seven years, dozens of students have participated in Monroe County startUP, developing their entrepreneurial skills with guidance from program facilitator Jamie Matthews.

Moving ahead, Monroe County startUP will have to do without that guiding hand as Matthews steps away to pursue a career elsewhere in the business world.

Matthews was born and raised in Monroe County, attending Prairie du Rocher grade school and Waterloo High School.

She credited her experience in FFA as well as one particular agriculture teacher, Doug Hanson, with inspiring her to pursue her later education and career.

After graduating, she attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale for an undergraduate degree in agriculture, later getting a master’s degree in communications with a focus in training and development at Lindenwood University.

While pursuing her master’s, Matthews also worked full time at Sydenstricker Nobbe Partners. She eventually left the company after graduating, looking to spend time at home to take care of her kids.

After a few years, with her kids growing up and getting into school, she was on the lookout for a way to spend her time when she heard about startUP.

“Once I stayed home with them for a few years, it was time to get back to work, at least part-time,” Matthews said. “And that’s when a friend shared the startUP role with me, and I went in, interviewed and was offered the position. It was awesome because it was just a perfect fit.”

Matthews explained that, beyond the convenient timing, she was drawn to the position given the interests she’d developed throughout college. It also allowed her the opportunity to work in a pseudo-teaching position without the hassles that can come with being a full-time teacher.

“It focused a lot on personal development and leadership, and then it was also a good mix between education and business,” Matthews said. “I didn’t have an education degree, but with my degree I love the training and development part of it, so it was just a good mix of that.”

During her time as facilitator, Matthews said she was able to do her teaching in a non-traditional way.

Meeting with students bright and early every day, she noted how much they led classroom discussion. While plenty of local professionals and business owners served as guest speakers to offer their experience, Matthews emphasized just how driven the startUP students were to learn.

“I think it was very exciting to have a bunch of students excited and asking me questions like ‘Are we gonna get to learn about taxes? Are we gonna get to learn about a checking account? Are we gonna get to meet anybody that started with nothing?’” Matthews said.

While the lessons take up much of the day-to-day, startUP has also become well-known in the community because of the projects students put together during the second half of the year.

This past year’s startUP class project was especially noteworthy given their struggle to put an event together after a proposed concert in the Rock City cave business complex was turned down – though past classes have faced their fair share of difficulties.

Despite whatever issues students might have run into, Matthews said they were always left feeling better afterward, newfound confidence and experience pushing them forward toward their personal businesses.

“I always remember specifically each time after the event, you look at the students, and they are completely exhausted, but they are so proud of themselves, and they’re kind of almost in disbelief that they pulled that off themselves,” Matthews said. “But just seeing them proud of themselves, and not one of them has said, ‘Man, I wish we would have done something different.’ They were all super happy with what they did.”

Matthews emphasized the lessons that startUP students take away from the program, with some developing a newfound pride and confidence as they go on to pursue business degrees and others discovering that they’d rather not be a business owner, a lesson that’s far less expensive to learn in the program than as an adult.

She also noted some of the other lessons students can take away, from public speaking to the importance of constantly learning and bettering oneself.

Matthews also mentioned some of her own takeaways from her time with the program, given her focus on training and development rather than business during college, she was able to absorb a great deal from the students and guest speakers.

“I’m very, very thankful to have been in that position,” Matthews said. “I think during my time with the startUP program, I learned more about business than any degree would have taught me.”

She also mentioned how working with so many teenagers over the years has hopefully helped prepare her for her own kids’ teen years.

As she’s been with the program since it first began, Matthews has become a core part of startUP, and her absence will certainly be felt this coming year.

Monroe County startUP Board Member Jenny Bullock expressed as much, commending Matthews for all the time and energy she put into the program as well as her ability to work so well with the students.

“We’re happy for her that she has another opportunity, but we’re very sad to see her go,” Bullock said. “She was instrumental in the success of the class, and so there’s gonna be some big shoes to fill.”

Fellow startUP board member George Obernagel noted her dedication to the program, adding that, while the board is currently looking for another facilitator, it will be exceptionally difficult to replace her.

“She has done a great job for startUP,” Obernagel said. “I would say over 100 students have gone through the program there, and she’s been a great leader and facilitator for these students into entrepreneurship.”

A few of the students Matthews has impacted during her last year with startUP also spoke to their experience working with her.

MoCo Oil creator Max Barthel, who won this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, described the freedom Matthews gave them, letting the students make their own choices and learn from their mistakes while still guiding them throughout the program.

“It was nice to have someone in that position that I felt super comfortable talking to and could always ask for help,” Barthel said. “She had great relationships with all the students, and it was obvious that she wanted all of us to succeed.”

Bridget Whaley of Bee’s Sweets expressed a similar sentiment, emphasizing how beneficial it was for Matthews to let the students do much of the teaching among themselves.

“She was very passionate in making sure that we were not only in control of our learning but understanding why things were happening and how we could adapt to fix them,” Whaley said. “I think it was a really great opportunity to have someone not only take a step back in how we learn, but support us along our own decisions.”

Matthews said the decision to step away from startUP was hard but necessary.

“It was not an easy decision, but I am just wanting to be in a full-time position, and my kids are getting older, so I feel like it’s time to move on to something else,” Matthews said. “But I’m excited because this also puts me in a different capacity where I can still support the program and give back to the program.”

She currently plans to take on a data governance and business analyst position with Bunge Limited, an agribusiness and food company based in St. Louis.