Partner with local high schools to develop the workforce of tomorrow.

The TriDistrict CAPS Program is Training the Workforce of Tomorrow

How can we help high school students make thoughtful decisions about the next step after graduation? It is important for high school students to understand their options for the future. Some students may not be ready for college right away, some may not be able to afford it, or they may decide that post-secondary education is not for them.

There are many different paths a student can take to a successful career. Local businesses have the opportunity to partner with the TriDistrict CAPS program to engage and support school districts for growth of the precision manufacturing workforce along with other industries.

The TriDistrict Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) Program

The TriDistrict area has a long history of collaboration between the Inver Grove Heights, South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Mendota Heights, and Eagan School Districts. The TriDistrict Career and College Readiness Initiative is the latest such collaboration. It introduces students to a wide range of opportunities to learn about their interests and engage in authentic, real-world career exploration activities. This initiative helps them discover a career path and make strategic choices about their post-secondary education so they can enter the workforce with job-ready skills upon graduation from high school, or to successfully enroll in and complete a degree from the post-secondary institution of their choice.

An important aspect of the TriDistrict Career & College Readiness Initiative is the programming offered through the TriDistrict Center for Advanced Professional Studies (TriDistrict CAPS). The profession-based learning courses thrive at the intersection of the workforce demands of our business partners and the career aspirations of our students and families.

Career Exploration and the Changing Workforce Landscape

Across the TriDistrict schools, business partners are sharing that if they wait until students are 18 years old and out of high school to promote job opportunities, they feel that they have missed their opportunity. By spring of their senior year, there is a good chance students have finalized their decision on what career they will pursue.

Career exploration and industry awareness is occurring earlier. Job fairs that a senior used to attend are now set up for freshman or sophomore grades. Juniors and seniors are beginning to voice that they have explored ideas and now they are ready for the hands-on experience of “doing.”

Students seek opportunities in a work-based internship setting and in a service-learning capacity. The TriDistrict CAPS program has increasing levels of engagement, authenticity, and students get to work with real people in jobs that can have an impact. This profession-based program allows students to follow their interests and dive into career exploration. It is a benefit for businesses to improve the general workforce of the next generation coming up, and there is the potential opportunity for students to stay on and work for them long term. Students learn from the professionals in the industry by doing tasks on the job themselves. Students have the chance to develop a professional skill set and if they stay in that industry, it will serve them well.

The TriDistrict schools seek partners that are willing to step into that space with them and provide their expertise and experience. Businesses willing to share their time, expertise, and influence with the students will help these young people figure out their passion.

The TriDistrict schools seek ways to plug in their students with local businesses to help students learn about the long-term career pathways that exist in an industry and organization. Students become familiar with a certain company at an earlier age. Students can participate in a CAPS program in their junior and/or senior year. A goal of a CAPS experience is to have an authentic, immersive, professional experience where they know the people well, how the business works, and what they can expect working in the industry or organization.

Being a Business Partner Helps Strengthen the Workforce

There are some real opportunities for workforce development with organizations that are willing to work with the TriDistrict schools’ CAPS programs. This program shows students not just a job but a career path.

There are a variety of ways partners can engage and help develop the workforce in their industry. The CAPS program needs guest speakers, field trip sites, folks willing to step into a mentorship role, and they need internship opportunities. Every one of these avenues expose students to learning, growth and development both personally and professionally within an organization. TriDistrict schools ask their partners where they can step in depending on their bandwidth.

CAPS Program Opens Doors to Success

The CAPS program runs as a fall semester class teaching students the soft skills to set them up for success in the spring semester internship. After the 120-hour internship experience, a student may feel affirmed in their decision to pursue that career or they may find out it is not for them. Either way, they save about three years’ worth of money and time going to college by exploring a career sooner. Students graduate high school with an internship experience and transferable skills they can take with them.

Juniors who loved the CAPS program may choose to do the internship experience with a partner again for their full senior year. Often a student may be hired on at the place they intern if it is a great match. There are students that started the first year of the CAPS program and have been with a business partner in some capacity since the spring of 2019. A couple students have bought houses and/or helped their families in significant, impactful ways.

While it is hard to track the impact of the CAPS program on all of the students, TriDistrict schools have a few neat success stories. One of their students became a shift supervisor for a pretty significant diesel shop in the South metro at the age of 22 years old. He had been at the shop for about five years and worked his way into that position.

Employee retention is highly sought after, especially with generational turnover, businesses want to find people that stay. Business partners will often share, “Find me a person that wants to learn, and we will find them a home for as long as they want to be here.” This is precisely the role that TriDistrict CAPS programs seek to occupy.

The TriDistrict CAPS Program Experience is Customized for Every Partner

TriDistrict schools meet with their business partners to discuss what their workforce is in need of and if there are any qualifications people must have to work at their company. The CAPS program develops the Fall semester coursework to fit the needs of the business partner. Coursework can be customized to include anything students may need to be successful, whether that be OSHA certifications or something else proprietary to the industry or organization. TriDistrict schools will work to minimize or eliminate any concerns partners may have in regards to an internship.

Some partners that have been with the CAPS program for a number of years have started to review their job descriptions more thoroughly to find areas where a service-learning intern would be able to contribute. For example, a certified position may have 20 duties listed in their job title but only 12 of those tasks may be directly related to the certification. The CAPS program is willing to include specific training in students’ fall coursework so that they are upskilled enough to complete those remaining eight tasks during their spring internship.

This careful review of job descriptions allows businesses to operate more efficiently with employees focusing on the tasks that only they can accomplish. Bringing in the service-learning interns to work on the extra tasks and have hands-on experience is developing the industry workforce. It also helps develop the internal leadership because employees who want to advance into upper management now have the opportunity to help an intern develop while developing their own management skills.

The CAPS program is agile and responsive. A holistic curriculum review is completed every year. It is unique to take that time and attention, but worth carefully customizing the coursework each year to have fully prepared students. Partners are brought in to do an in-depth analysis so that the program stays current and focusing on industry needs and changes within the industry that are coming that may not be anticipated from the education space perspective.

Illuminating Career Paths

Ben Kusch, Director of the TriDistrict CAPS Program, has been in public education for 29 years. Ben shares, “I was lucky to have phenomenal teachers that were influential in helping me discover ‘it’ - my next step towards my future. When I describe my job, I tell people that I help kids figure out their “jam” - what it is that they love and that they are good at. I enjoy finding ways to help students think thoughtfully about their futures.”

The CAPS program validates and supports students pursuing skills that light them up with excitement. One of the greatest compliments to Ben across programs came from a student who shared, “I love the CAPS program because I get to do what I love and people are genuinely excited for me!” Every young person has different skills and interests, and this program helps them realize that what they contribute is important.

There are over 120 CAPS programs nationwide and a couple international programs. The CAPS program is beginning to have a larger, national recognition in post-secondary education and employment circles. Nine years ago, the TriDistrict CAPS program had a small number of partners in their network. Today, their Metro-wide network includes a growing list of 100+ partners as well as some national partners and are hoping to continue to grow their supporters and build the programs.

Business partners have the opportunity to help develop students’ interests and launch them into a career. A better, stronger workforce is being created through the CAPS program. This new generation will enter the workforce with a strong skill set that will directly apply to their field of work, and at the same time develop a transferable skill set that will allow them to be successful in a variety of professional roles.

Do you want to get involved with the TriDistrict Career and College Readiness Imitative? Connect with:

Ben Kusch
Lead Designer | TriDistrict Career and College Readiness Initiative
Director | TriDistrict CAPS
bkusch@tridistrictce.org | 612-267-2760