Four New Corporate Partners Join Missouri Innovation Campus Program

By Janice Phelan, January 3, 2019

The Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) is welcoming four new business partners this school year, including ACT-NRCCUA, C.H. Robinson/FreightQuote, DataLocker and Mediware. The new partners are among more than 50 businesses providing mentoring and on-the-job training for students participating in the program’s comprehensive paid internships.

A total of 97 students are currently enrolled in the Missouri Innovation Campus programs with 70 students participating in the corporate internships. After spending three years working for the companies, the students are well-prepared to enter the workforce.

“It provides them with a year-round, three-year internship that helps the students offset college expenses and gives them hands-on, real-world applied learning opportunities in a business setting,” said Stan Elliott, MIC director.

These long-term internships also offer students and business representatives opportunities to get better acquainted.

The nationally recognized Missouri Innovation Campus program is a partnership involving the University of Central Missouri (UCM), the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College (MCC) and the corporate partners. Students begin the program as high-school juniors and seniors at Summit Technology Academy, operated by Lee’s Summit R-7. They have the opportunity to earn an associate degree from MCC soon after receiving their high-school diploma in three of the six programs. MIC students can earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Missouri within two years of high-school graduation in all six programs.

Since it launched in 2012, three cohorts of MIC students have earned bachelor’s degrees with full-time employment placement for these grads at 99 percent. Connections remain strong between the students and their corporate partners with 98 percent of the students placed into full-time employment accepting a job at the company where they interned.

“This is truly on-the-job, personalized learning for our students,” Elliott added, “There is a tremendous value for the students in the intern programs. The curriculum is developed by the corporate partners in collaboration with Summit Technology Academy, Metropolitan Community College and the University of Central Missouri instructors. This helps eliminate the skills gap that we hear so much about across the nation.”

Businesses interested in becoming a corporate partner are encouraged to contact Stan Elliott at (660) 543-8256.