When the Sangamon CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities) class launched the popular LRS Ice Rink behind Scheels last winter, it marked the first time Springfield had an outdoor ice skating rink since 2001 when the Springfield Recreation Department operated a temporary one in Union Square Park downtown.
Twenty years later, the student-run ice rink is returning downtown, on the southwest corner of the Old State Capitol lawn.
History is further repeating itself.
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Illinois Department of Natural Resources personnel said they have found proof that there was ice skating on the lawn more than 150 years ago.
The Sangamon CEO class this time around is partnering with the Capital Area Career Center building trades class. Work began Monday on the decking of the rink, which will be “L” shaped and 25% larger than last year.
It opens Nov. 3 and runs through Dec. 30 on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday. Times are still being determined.
A number of other events, including a movie theatre with holiday-themed movies, games and choirs and bands, will surround the ice skating activity.
The ice rink will complement Downtown Springfield, Inc.’s Old Capitol Holiday Walks on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Nov. 27 to Dec. 22 and the Memorial Holiday Fest that will include decorated trees in downtown storefronts and a Santa Claus house, also on the Old State Capitol lawn.
“It’s going to be a great place for people to make memories and we’re pumped that it’s downtown,” said Kayla Graven, DSI executive director.
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Sangamon CEO students were excited to get a first look at the construction and for the ice rink to have a new home.
“I think coming downtown was awesome just because (Sangamon CEO) had such great success at Scheels last year and being able to capture the traffic that’s here and being able to bring people downtown to see all of the restaurants and shops is great,” said Quinn Matthews, a senior at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, who is part of the operations team.
“We’re excited about how our class can take a spin on last year’s idea,” added Reagan Nieves, a senior at Rochester High School, who is doing marketing for the rink. “There’s something special about being down here. Downtown Springfield has a niche type of quality to it. A lot of young people are motivated to help local economies and support local businesses more than they are chains or bigger businesses.”
Arianna Gillespie, also a senior at Rochester, said she was happy to see the rink “come to life and the spirit it brings to this town.”
All 46 students in the Sangamon CEO class, which is overseen by iVenturED, will have some part in the ice rink operation, said lead facilitator Benjamin Hage. That will include staffing and running the rink, skate rental, cleaning the ice and making sure COVID-19 protocols are followed.
It is believed to be the largest student-run CEO program project of any kind in the nation, Hage said.
“A lot of people, a lot of organizations, a lot of minds get credit for (this ice rink) being down here,” Hage said. “At the end of the day, we’re all working towards the same goal and that’s how do we give our community something they can enjoy and something they can celebrate. It turned out to be the most ideal place for us to be.
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“You have the Old State Capitol as a backdrop. It’s a historical space, it’s a beautiful space. It means a lot to our city.”
Hage said several students applied to the Sangamon CEO program this year because they wanted to be part of the experience of running a business.
“We run (the ice rink) like a company,” Hage said. “We have different departments. We have finance. We have human resources. We have marketing. We have customer experience. We have sales. The students have a laundry list of tasks and everyone is working on this.
“It’s not theoretical. It’s real money. It’s real challenges. It’s real customers. It’s real organizations.”
Matthews said being out in different businesses and hearing from different CEOs and other leaders, plus getting to work on the ice rink, “isn’t something you get in a typical classroom. That’s what makes Sangamon CEO so unique.”
“I had friends in the class the last couple of years,” added Amaar Rahman, a senior at Glenwood High School, “and they told me how much they learned and what a good experience it was. I thought it would be right up my alley because I want to go into business so I didn’t hesitate to apply.”
Samantha Palazzolo, a senior at Rochester, said she does a lot of social media on her own “so I felt like (the class) was a great outlet for me that would capture my skills better than your average high school class.”
The construction of the ice rink, Hage said, involved a new partner this year in the CACC building trades.
About 30 of instructor Doug Dennis’ students have been part of the project, from the design to its construction.
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After assembling the 4,800-square-foot deck, students will put down two layers of plywood and a four-foot tall half-wall.
“All of this will be recyclable,” Dennis explained. “We’ll draw a grid. We’ll have a plan that every board will be identified and labeled, so next year we can put this together in one-third the time.”
Students are working with the same Minnesota synthetic ice company that allows the project to be less cost prohibitive and more eco-friendly.
Dennis said his students, too, have an investment in the project.
“It’s a great line on a resume to say I helped build the ice rink, Dennis said. “We want them to have experiences on their resumes that push them to the top of the pile.”
Dennis’ students have built micropantries for Southeast High School and Grant Middle School and CACC is one of only two schools in state where students can build a full-size house in its laboratory.
“It’s the same principle and technique — cripple studs, floor joists — whether we’re building a 4,000-square-foot ice rink or a 3-foot-by-4-foot floor for a food pantry,” Dennis said.
Crystal Avalos, a senior at Southeast, never envisioned herself helping build an ice rink.
The first-year building trades student said she has always been interested in home repairs and working with tools.
“At first, I didn’t know what I was going to walk into, but I look forward (to going to class) every single day,” Avalos said. “I’ve learned so much in the past month and it’s something I can apply (to a career in the trade).”
Avalos said her mother recently graduated from the HVAC at Midwest Technical Institute in Springfield. She would come in telling Avalos she got 100% on her test.
“She always studies,” Avalos said. “That’s something I aspire to do as well. And she looks happy doing it. I want to be happy (in any career I go into).”
The ice rink at the Old State Capitol got IDNR superintendent Justin Blandford and his staff thinking about outdoor skating in the city.
They identified a Jan. 20, 1866 story in the Illinois State Register referring to “a number of boys … attempting to skate upon the ice which covers a portion of the statehouse yard. And we really sympathized with the youngsters in not having a broader field for practicing the healthful and graceful exercise.”
Blandford pointed out that was just months removed from the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, “not a bright spot in Springfield’s history,” he added.
“When I think about what our city and what our state are still going through (with the COVID-19 pandemic), what families are still enduring, what our downtown is trying to get through,” Blandford said, “I told the (Sangamon CEO) students, don’t think for a minute this is just ice. It’s not. It’s so much more. It’s a gift. It’s coming because of their enthusiasm and their innovation and their outlook and the way they think about their city.
“We owe a real debt to the Sangamon CEO program and to the students in our community who are helping us get our bearings by pushing us out on some ice.”
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
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