October 29, 2022

By Janice Phelan
Communications and Marketing University of Central Missouri-Missouri Innovation Campus

The Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) program is currently recruiting students for its 2023-27 cohort. Students entering the recognized program are in their sophomore year and come from Summit Technology Academy’s (STA) 33 sending high schools).

This will be the 12th cohort since this one-of-a-kind program started in 2012 with one academic program and three MIC business partners. Since then, the program has expanded to include 70 business partners and five programs: Software Development, Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, Design and Drafting and Big Data/Business Analytics.

The Missouri Innovation Campus program is a partnership including the University of Central Missouri, the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College and industry-leading business partners. It provides motivated students with career-ready skills and the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree just two years after high-school graduation – all with little or not debt.

“It is extremely important that the high-school counselors at the 33 sending high schools to STA understand the MIC program requirements and what the profile of a successful MIC program student looks like,” said Stan Elliott, MIC program director. “This process began with our annual MIC program High School Counselors’ Breakfast Meeting on Sept. 29th where the MIC program components were explained in detail and there was an extensive Q&A session to address questions and to gain feedback from the counselors to better prep our recruitment process.”

To qualify for the MIC program, a 10th-grader must be accepted to the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District’s Summit Technology Academy for their junior year, have a 3.0 minimum GPA, 95 percent attendance and test into college English and college algebra either on the ACT or Accuplacer exams.

An email invitation went to counselors from the MIC program sending high schools, encouraging them to invite students enrolled in algebra II, CADD (computer-aided design and drafting) and computer science courses to attend one of the three STA/MIC open houses to learn more details about the programs. Open houses are offered at 6 p.m. Nov. 10, Jan. 12 and Feb. 2 at the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit.

The recruitment process for the 2023-27 MIC program cohort concludes at the MIC program Enrollment Night on March 9. At this event, students meeting the program’s requirements are invited to enroll for the program which will begin in June 2023. Through this four-year program students are able to earn a bachelor’s degree just two years after graduating high school while also participating in three year, year-round, paid internships with one of the MIC program business partners.