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Cherry Creek Innovation Campus (CCIC)

Merging excellence in education with the innovation of industry.

We bring a widely diverse group of students together in courses like Aviation, Automotive, Business, Hospitality, IT, Manufacturing, Construction, and Healthcare. Our classrooms are the intersection of industry credentials, college credit, professional skills, and industry-grade equipment and standards. By doing this we connect student interests with labor needs to serve our community.

Shortlisted
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Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2019

Established

6.35K

Children

1

Countries
Target group
Students upper
Updated
May 2024
We hope that every student can engage in authentic, hands-on education that provides access to meaningful college AND career preparation. Students should have the opportunity to start a career debt-free, with real and meaningful industry certifications, and with the door to higher education propped wide open.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

To serve the 18,000 high school students from across our school district, especially those students who find traditional education methods disengaging. We also address the needs of our local, state, and regional labor needs while helping students in the process of identity assumption: the time when they adopt the persona of a successful adult.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Students come to us for approximately 25% of their high school year. We work with industry, community and higher education partners to best replicate authentic learning environments and challenges for students.

As just one example, one industry partner of our Advanced Manufacturing pathway came to us to make highly specific and technical parts for the cabling-switch boxes for satellite launches. Our students get to experience the authentic iterative conversation with a client resulting in a real product that is critical to get exactly right (and will be launched into space!)

We strive to provide as authentic an experience for student learning as possible, which is why, for example, our construction program builds five tiny homes each year that meet city/county code for a homeless community. Our Aviation program is the first high school program in the country offering FAA certifications to students in commercial drone piloting, private pilot ground school, and aviation mechanics.

How has it been spreading?

We host over 200 tours of our campus each year so that school district and educational institutions can see what we're doing and how we are meeting the needs of our students. While about half of these tours are educational partners, the other half are industries, community organizations, governmental figures, and community members interested in seeing what we are doing.

Additionally, we travel as we can to learn from our peer institutions across the country as we look to grow and expand our work.

Finally, as we can, we share our work and successes/challenges to date at conferences, meetings, etc.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Come visit! We host many tours where students are glad to share their learning and share how this model of education has enhanced their learning.

While many people assume they know what high schools look like, we often hear that they needed to see the CCIC to truly understand what we do here. Come visit and see for yourself!

Implementation steps

Community Need
Survey both student career interest as well as industry/community need. From there, determine which career paths can lead to a "stackable" certification, an industry-recognized certification that leads to a family-sustaining wage and is not a deadend. The certification students earn as an 18 year old should be something they can "stack" or build seamlessly onto as a part of successfully starting a career.
Finding the teaching talent in your community
Finding the right teachers is critical. Usually you will find talented folks in local industry that also have a passion for giving back to their community, perhaps through education. Our balance of traditional educators and industry professionals who teach is currently 40%:60%. To help our industry professionals help students do their best, we also hired an instructional coach who works with all staff to do their very best in the classroom.
Finding the right space
Loris Malaguzzi is often quoted as saying "Space is the third teacher" and we could not agree more. The space you find for your classes should achieve the following things, if possible:
1) Create an atmosphere in your school that mirrors professional culture and standards. This helps your students with their own identity assumption as well as elevates their behavior toward a professional standard.
2) Provde, as best you can, the tools of industry professionals in all courses.
"You Belong Here"
Recruit, enroll and retain the full diversity of your community and work to upend the lack of diversity in the industries your students are headed toward after graduation by creating balance in your enrollment in every course. For instance, make sure every student and family that visits your site understands that they belong. Create opportunities for historically underrepresented students to explore pathways where they are not typically represented!
Industry certifications that matter
When students succeed in your program, they should be earning an industry certification or license that allows them to get work after graduation that allows them to earn a wage that they can sustain themselves on. That certification should also be a step on a ladder of growth that they can continue throughout their career. For instance, we have courses that allows students to be Certified Nursing Assistants, Machinists, Airplane Mechanics, Chefs, Data Network Administrators, and many more!
Engage your industry partners for support!
Choosing the right pathway and certifications for your students should keep you connected with industry partners who want to hire your students! Whether it's during the school year, over the summer, or full-time after graduation, our industry partners tell us time and time again that they highly value our students! Leverage that value into asking industry partners for support: guest speakers, materials, donations, taking students as apprentices, etc.
Celebrate your successes!
For each student that goes onto to continue their education, celebrate! For each student that goes directly into a great job that you helped make possible, celebrate! For each student that takes a course and realizes that they do NOT like this career, celebrate that you saved them time and money not spent in college or a job they do not like!
Finally, teach what matters
All of our industry and community partners remind us that while skills and content knowledge do matter, it is the professional skills that make good employees. We developed a rubric of professional skills that are 30% of every course grade at the CCIC and emphasize all of the things we need to see in employees for their success: reliability, collaboration, communication, safety, etc. The rubric is here: https://www.cherrycreekschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=12060

Spread of the innovation

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