Stories of Promising Practice - Innovation Centers Narrative

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Cherry Creek School District
St. Vrain Valley School District

At Cherry Creek Innovation Campus, airplanes fill a classroom hanger, 3D printers line a classroom wall for engineering students and medical dummies lie in hospital beds in another room for nursing students. 

At the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools, high-tech drones hang from a classroom ceiling, robots await student programming in another room and a TV studio with a green screen wall beckons student creativity.

Arguably, these high tech centers are the future of high school. Both Cherry Creek and St. Vrain Valley school districts have recently built state-of-the-art innovation centers that provide work-based learning experiences for students as they prepare for life after high school. The centers are stand-alone college and career preparedness facilities where students from the districts’ high schools come for classes rooted in real-world skills and trade certifications ranging from computer sciences to aviation to health sciences.

Students are able to get real-work experience and credentials in fields they could pursue after high school - providing them with meaningful knowledge, skills and experience needed for postsecondary success that transcends the traditional classroom.

At Cherry Creek, students can get certified in airplane maintenance, auto repair, nursing and construction. At St. Vrain Valley, students can become certified Apple computer technicians, start pursuing a private pilot license and take introductory K-12 education courses that can help students on the road to becoming a schoolteacher.

“Our goal is to bring a truly unique, work-based learning experience for students seeking a better understanding of themselves as they prepare for life after high school,” said Mark Morgan, principal of the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus. The school was built with funding from general obligation bonds and opened in 2019.

St. Vrain opened its 50,000-square-foot Longmont innovation center in 2018, using funding from a Race to the Top grant to provide students professional STEM experiences through industry partnerships and paid work. 

“The innovation center is an iconic showcase in a building where, basically,  students come to us from different high schools to take advanced courses,” said Patty Quinones, assistant superintendent of innovation at St. Vrain Valley School District. “We have 30 different courses they can take, everything from IT to aeronautics to biomedical to robotics. Those kinds of things are what allow us to see the trends of the future and then get students ready for that type of work.”

Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes says one of her top priorities is providing more work-based opportunities, like those offered in Cherry Creek and St. Vrain, to students throughout Colorado. 

“With three out of every four jobs requiring some sort of postsecondary education, we need to support our high schools throughout Colorado in their efforts to prepare students for the rigours demands of the workforce.” Anthes said. 

By having whole campuses that allow students to work on several different types of career-models, the districts provide a one-stop shop experience and consolidate differing career tech fields under one roof, Anthes said.

However, districts and schools that don’t have the resources to create a campus could consider banding together with regional facilities that serve several different districts, she said, Also, smaller districts have been able to provide similar experiences by partnering with manufacturers or businesses through internships, she said.

Providing students industry certificates while still in high school can help give them a boost in finding jobs after high school.

“People are going to be much more willing to accept you into a job because you will be industry certified and you know what you are doing. So it’s a big door opener,” said Jackson Guthrie, a student at St. Vrain’s center who plans on getting a certificate to be an Apple computer technician.

The workforce experience can also help students try out different career pathways to find what suits their passions. And, perhaps more importantly, find out what pathways they don’t want to follow.

“We’ve had some kids go into a program and say, ‘Nope. That is not for me,’” said Morgan, principal at the Cherry Creek campus. “What a great opportunity for kids. If you can check that off now before you graduate and spend that money in college or go through all this training and suddenly decide you don’t want that as a career. If you can do that at the high school level, that’s much lower stakes than after you graduate.”

The goal at the innovation centers is to give students opportunities to find their passions. 

“Whether that is going straight to college or through an industry certification where they can go right into a job or the military,” Morgan said. “It's really helping students realize their dreams.”

For more information about the Cherry Creek Innovation Center, click here.

For more information about the St. Vrain Valley School District Innovation Center, click here.  

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