Nearly 100 students at Wasatch High participate in the Wasatch CAPS program. The students recently heard from Utah’s Lt. Governor who spoke with them about collaboration.
CAPS stands for the Wasatch Center for Advanced Professional Studies. The program is in its third year. Wasatch CAPS director Weston Broadbent explains what the program does.
“What it is is just helping students get real world experience with real projects that they’re working on.” Broadbent continues, “We have five different groups; there’s business, engineering, digital design, agriculture and health. Each one focuses on a different segment of the industry. Our business students will be helping a start-up company with their marketing and social media. Our ag. kids might be helping with raising chukars and releasing them out on the Wallsburg Management Unit. In each group, two to three students will meet with a real-life client for a couple of days or maybe once every two weeks and get it all set up. The goal is that we give them the skills they need in the real world, while they’re getting this education.”
Lt. Governor Spencer Cox spoke to students in the program at the UVU Heber extension building. Lt. Governor Cox explained his role in state government, answered questions and spoke about collaboration.
“You guys are having experiences now through the CAPS program working in teams and working together. You’re starting to learn some very important skills. It turns out that if you’re solving problems—researchers have been able to do this.” Lt. Governor Cox explained, “They’ll ask people to solve these problems on their own. Then they’ll put them together in teams and ask them to solve those problems and then they’ve done something else too. They put them in teams of diverse groups of people that are different in a room. Turns out that every level of that the problem solving gets better.”
Wasatch CAPS student Cierra Reeder says she appreciates the opportunity to give back to the community.
“I just like knowing that what I’m doing is actually putting something good into the community.” Reeder said, “We go to school and have our normal classes and yeah sure maybe that’s helping me, but I like the idea that knowing that I’m helping other people too. Another cool thing about CAPS is we can all collaborate no matter what area you’re in. I did medicine and health last year as well and we put together community wellness parks. Now that’s in the engineering department and they’re working on the 3D model for that. I really like how (Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox) pointed out that diversity is a good thing. Everyone having different backgrounds and different opinions and beliefs because then we can all put them all together to make a better solution instead of having everyone doing the same solution every time because they’re all similar.”
Fellow CAPS student Logan Stone says he enjoys the real-world application.
“I would definitely say it’s a very worthwhile thing and that you should do it because it just gives you so much experience moving on.” Stone continued, “I just really like how its real world versus everything at the high school is theoretical. Whereas you’re working with real businesses and real clients and people who actually need a project done and you’re helping them with that kind of thing. Last year I did stuff with a start-up business but also with a real estate thing and now I’m doing stuff with an engineering company.”
You can learn more about Wasatch CAPS here.
