Two Sheldon High School seniors capped their first semester by giving a presentation to the Sheldon City Council Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Edwin Holz and Conner Klein are part of the high school’s Center for Advanced Professional Studies program. Students in CAPS are paired with a business in the district and learn professional skills, how to behave in the workplace and how to manage a group. Each business gives the students a project that could have real implications if used.
Holz and Klein were paired with the city of Sheldon and worked with city manager Sam Kooiker. With the first semester ending, the two presented their idea of how to spruce up 421 Third Ave., corner lot along Highway 18/Park Street that has sat empty since a rundown house was torn down there in the spring of 2023.
The two students proposed building an arch similar to the ones in downtown Sheldon and Hills Park, adding information about the community to the space while pointing people to the downtown businesses and having a couple of benches and/or picnic tables for people to sit.
No action was required by the council since it was a presentation only, but it is a project the council could develop going forward.
Council member Brad Hindt said he liked the idea, and mayor Greg Geels said it lines up with a strategic planning project that reviews the welcome signs to Sheldon.
“This dovetails in with that goal that we hope to accomplish,” Geels said. “I compliment you on the work you’ve put into this, the thought you’ve given it. I think it’s a great idea. Whether it comes to fruition or not, we will see. We appreciate the effort you put into it.”
Holz and Klein opened the presentation by describing CAPS to the council with the program’s instructor, Cindy Prewitt, in the audience. The two students said the program has given them valuable real-life experience working with Kooiker, other city staffers and Beck Engineering in Sheldon.
“It’s a class to give us real-world business experience, to get us out of the school and open our eyes to what the world is,” Klein said. “Because in school you can only get so much information that’s usable in the real world today. We want to further what careers we want to move into. One of my favorite parts of this class is seeing how willing businesses are to work with you and put you on their level.”
Holz said this is an experience no high school students can get unless they take the CAPS program.
“No high schoolers are going to going to come before the city council in a meeting like this and learn how that process works,” he said. “I am just learning it now. and I know it’s going to be valuable in the future. Whether it’s a business meeting or whether I have to do this again for a future career. Those types of skills are what CAPS teaches us.”
Klein said Kooiker gave the two the idea of putting together a proposal of what to do with the empty lot at 421 Third Ave., which is owned by the city since cleaning up and demolishing the rundown house. The lot sits a block east of the Highway 18 and Second Avenue intersection.
Kooiker did not suggest any idea, giving Holz and Klein a clean slate.
“We knew the lot was too small to develop anything on it. You can’t really put another house on it,” Klein said. “Looking at the lot, we wanted to maybe put a monument out there or something to draw attention from Highway 18. We don’t have anything on Highway 18 that points to our downtown and the historic features there. The idea is to point downtown and draw eyes from Highway 18.”
While the two seniors wanted something to be visible, they also wanted something simple and low maintenance.
As Holz and Klein looked around the city for ideas, they came across the arch area in downtown where Sheldon National Bank used to be. They also looked at the arch in Hills Park that is part of the Sheldon Recreational Trail. Both were built in 2012. Klein said the downtown arch and the gathering area cost $56,000 and the arch in the park was about $15,000.
The two students passed out sketches of what the arch could look like at the empty lot. They worked with Beck Engineering on some of the sketches.
The arch would face Highway 18 and there would be a brick sidewalk going through it that would lead to some benches and/or picnic tables. The lot would have some trees around the lot.
“On the arch, we would have a sign that points to go to downtown. Maybe a plaque on there,” Klein said. “We could do something with the history of downtown or what you can find in downtown. Something to point you in that area. It would be a small, neat little gathering area.”
Hindt said the idea could be used by the marketing committee and that it is worth looking into the next steps.
Prewitt said she appreciated the city’s and council’s feedback on the project and said future CAPS students can continue the work on the project or take on another project the city is thinking of.
The original article published at nwestiowa.com can be found here.
