Southern Indiana: August 2025 Highlights
Innovation in Action
Each month, we celebrate the stories of Innovation Accelerator teachers and students making a difference across Indiana and beyond.
Kyleigh Arnold: Columbus Area Career Connection
C4’s First Business Club
For Kyleigh Arnold, this school year is all about growth, both in the classroom and beyond it. In addition to teaching Marketing, Management, Personal Finance, and PCC (Preparing for College and Careers), she is also working with students to launch her school’s first-ever Business Club.
What makes this new club unique is that it’s being built side by side with students. “Since this was their idea, I’m encouraging them to take ownership by helping decide on meeting topics, activities, and priorities,” Kyleigh explains. Early conversations have focused on student interests like resume building, LinkedIn development, presentation skills, entrepreneurship, and investing. The format will continue to evolve as the club grows, always driven by student input.
The purpose of the Business Club is to give students hands-on, practical skills that extend beyond the classroom. Looking ahead, Kyleigh envisions the club growing into a hub where students can network with professionals, host community projects, and start student-run ventures.
For Kyleigh, the Business Club is a natural extension of what already happens in her classroom. “In the classroom, students learn the foundational concepts of marketing, management, and business law. The club provides an outlet to apply those lessons in practical, personalized ways,” she shares. Whether it’s turning a classroom project into a competition pitch, or using entrepreneurship lessons as the foundation for a real student-run business, the two feed each other to create a cycle of learning that is both theory-driven and experience-based.
With her students taking the lead, Kyleigh is helping launch a culture of ownership, confidence, and innovation at C4.
Chelsea Kleeman: Tell City Jr-Sr High School
When Success Goes Public
Sometimes recognition comes in the most unexpected—and most public—ways. For Chelsea Kleeman's students, Alyssa L. and Callista K., that moment came when their faces appeared on a billboard celebrating Tell City Jr-Sr High School's success in offering valuable dual credit opportunities. With 61% of the 2025 class graduating with a credential, Chelsea's business management course played a significant role in that achievement.
Alyssa and Callista earned their spot on the billboard through their entrepreneurial work with Sunny Spritz, a dry shampoo sunscreen they pitched as 2025 Innovate WithIN regional finalists. Chelsea laughs as she recalls how they discovered their newfound fame: “Alyssa and Callie saw it before I did! I knew they were going to put one up, but I did not know when. They came running up to me in the hallway one morning… ‘Mrs. Kleeman! Mrs. Kleeman! Did you see it!?’”
For Chelsea, the billboard represented something deeper than a photo opportunity. “Our students work hard and they deserve every bit of recognition that comes their way. As their teacher, I know how talented they are, but it is hard for the public to see them like I do. This billboard showcases real life students that are solving real life problems.”
The recognition hasn’t slowed Alyssa and Callista down, they’re continuing to refine the formula for Sunny Spritz and are now enrolled in advanced marketing classes to further develop their skills.
Lain Knieriem: Perry Central Community Schools
Custom Tech Solutions
Most teachers buy software. Lain Knieriem builds it.
He's developing an in-house web server to host a Work-Based Learning management system for his school's internship program. Instead of purchasing expensive third-party software that doesn't quite fit, he's creating a platform tailored specifically for managing student placements, tracking progress, and connecting students with community partners.
"It's exciting and nerve-racking at the same time, but I am looking forward to what this will teach me, and how it can grow Perry Central and myself," Lain shared.
Rather than accepting ‘this is how things are,’ Lain is building exactly what his students need. It's innovative problem-solving that models the kind of creative thinking he wants his students to bring to their own careers.
