=When Owen Schackmann was 12 or 13, his grandfather took him and his cousin Shay Bennett out to run. Grandpa showed them form. They went down the block together. Shay is also a runner now, having been on the track and cross country team all through high school.

Owen's grandfather is 76. He's had enough surgeries that he can no longer run every day — two or three times a week now. But he still goes. "The only reason he's still running," Owen said, "is because he figured out how to run." Efficiency over effort. The phrase stuck.

Owen is a senior at Newton Community High School, a State Scholar, and a four-year football and track athlete who served as football captain this fall. The season was harder than expected. "We missed the playoffs, which was our goal. We had kind of a rough season with injuries, but we made it through." That's how he tends to report adversity — briefly, honestly, and then forward.

His grandfather first modeled running for him. His father modeled something broader. Owen's dad owns a carpentry and construction business — the family outfit was called Schackmann Insulation and Construction, though it's no longer an active business name. Owen has worked on his dad's roofing crew every summer he can remember, alongside his friend Hayden Borgic. He's been at it since he was young enough that it felt like just going to work with dad. "I've always liked working hard."

The Illinois State Scholar recognition landed as exactly that — recognition of work. "It's super cool. It's a reward for the hard work I've put in."

This year, he's in the CEO entrepreneurship program, which takes up the morning block — and, by scheduling conflict, cost him the FCA officer role he'd signed up for. He had to choose. He chose CEO. His project: a personal training and fitness business. "I've had personal trainers before, and I really enjoy lifting and teaching others how to do that."

The CEO program has also opened his eyes to what's already happening in Newton. "You walk into a store and just buy something. But you don't realize what it took to get that store there." He mentioned the man who recently bought the IGA — who also owns 19 other businesses, has three or four houses, and travels constantly. "He's right here in Newton, and there's — oh, it's that building over there — because you don't ever go in there." The program visits TPS, a digital printing company in town that's a national player. All of it has been a quiet revelation. "It's cool to see how everybody makes it through, even in a small town."

He's thought seriously about how to scale a personal training business — online programs, nutrition coaching, both sides. "I can make it as much or as little as I want, really." But for now, the CEO business is a trial run with a net beneath him. In four years, when he comes back with an exercise science degree, it becomes the actual career.

Both schools he's considering — Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and Illinois College in Jacksonville — have offered him a spot on the track team. The decision will come down to financial aid. "I like Illinois Wesleyan better, but I have to see what makes sense financially."

Track gave him his philosophy. "Look good, feel good, run good," he said — something the team repeats. He means it beyond the sport. Confidence is physical. Help someone get stronger, and you help them access more of the rest of their life.

He went to Acuña, Mexico — right on the border — with a church group over a year ago to build a house for a family. He's a student leader at his church, and that trip sharpened something already in him. "You realize what some people don't have. And you realize how we can help people. If we can help people, then why don't we?"

That question — arriving at the end of a conversation about carpentry and roofing crews and running form and the guy behind the IGA — is not a slogan. It's a direction.