Vol. 113, Issue 13 • March 7, 2019
Missouri Innovation Campus shines new light on education
A LOOK INSIDE... PAGE 3
MIC forges unique partnerships, opportunities
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MIC offers certifications for nontraditional students
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MIC offers convenience to KC computer science students
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Nursing tech prepares students for the future
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GENERAL/ADMIN
March 7-27
Having the right tools to be successful
Rick Smetana
For the Muleskinner I am a pretty competitive person. I want to succeed at everything I do whether it be professionally, educationally (I just started my MBA) or in my hobbies. In my mind, success can be achieved by identifying goals, dedication, hard work and having access to the right tools to obtain those
goals. My friend and I have a competition BBQ team, and we have invested heavily in the latest gadgets to have technology help us create winning food. Another passion is golf, and I am always on the hunt for the best new club that will unlock my game. I am very lucky that UCM has the Missouri Innovation Campus building. The MIC building and the programs hosted here are the innovative and technologically advanced -- and also very cool -tools that allow me to be successful. This building, which opened in 2017, provides a home for UCM programs that change the lives of students at various stages within their lives. The innovative aspects and the technology incorporated into the MIC create an incredible environment, making it easy for all of us to do our jobs. Whether it is my job of supporting the university’s mission or the university’s role in educating students and preparing them for future success — the building is a key component. The MIC program itself — a partnership
with the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and Metropolitan Community College — has been recognized nationally for reshaping education. This program, like others operating out of this building, is designed to reduce costs for students, accelerate the time it takes to earn a college degree and connect businesses to a trained workforce. I tell people all the time that I wish I had the opportunity to have been in the MIC program when I was in high school. The unique aspects of the MIC building help us serve both traditional and non-traditional students. They come to our remarkable building to change their lives for the better, and our staff and facility, as well as our metro-area location, helps us do just that. Within the metro area, there are many people who have some college but no degree, and we are proud to provide many of these adults with an affordable and attainable way to advance. We partner with a number of local orga-
nizations and employers to provide additional pathways for adult learners. These partnerships include KC Rising, a metro-area coalition focusing on job growth and economic development; MoExcels, a statewide initiative designed to target workforce needs; and KC Degrees/KC Scholars, a regional scholarship program targeting low- and modest-income students. We work with these and other organizations to provide adults with a chance at a better life. Through these programs, our students learn specific skills that make them attractive to local employers. Coming to work each day at our Lee’s Summit campus is an awesome experience and something I don’t take for granted. While the building itself is remarkable, our leadership and the people who work at the MIC building truly care about our students and make coming to work each day special. Andrea, Laura, Nathan, and the rest of the UCM Lee’s Summit team make sure our students have the right tools to succeed.
Building colors reflected in special issue
The color schemes used in this issue are reflect the colors used in each wing at the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit. Like the campus, this paper has been split up into four sections designed to reflect the four wings at MIC. Leapfrog Green is used in the general and administration section, which covers columns and stories pertaining to the building and administration. Antique Red is used to denote the academic section. The color is used in the learning commons and meeting spaces in the building. Copper Harbor is used to denote the technology section. Danube Blue is used for the health sections.
GENERAL/ADMIN
The Muleskinner
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COMMENTARY:
MIC forges unique partnerships, opportunities
Chuck Ambrose For the Muleskinner
After leaving the University of Central Missouri last summer, I was back in Kansas City with the KnowledgeWorks Leadership Team in December 2018 to engage in the Missouri Innovation Campus and meet its leadership team. For the first time in eight years, I could stop and look back at all that had been accomplished in building the nation’s only P-16 accelerated pathway that includes three-year paid internships in a competency-based learning model. Without the education speak, this means students from more than 20 high schools and 12 school districts can enter a program that cuts the cost of college, reduces the time to a degree in half, eliminates the talent skills gap by providing paid internships in over 50 of KC’s best companies, and reduces significantly student loan debt. How did this bold educational concept come to life in Lee’s Summit, Missouri? While attending my first homecoming in Warrensburg in 2010, I had the opportunity to meet UCM Distinguished Alumnus Don Nissanka. In that conversation, Don indicated that he wanted to give something back to his alma mater for all that his two UCM degrees had meant to his career and life. We discussed at that homecoming dinner the original construct for The Missouri Innovation Campus. While creating 21st-century jobs for his proposed start-
up alternative energy company, we could make the production floor the classroom, managers and engineers part of the teaching faculty, and students could become employees and be paid for their work as they learn. Additionally, the cutting-edge technology would become the laboratory equipment that the state of Missouri could never afford to provide to students in high school, community college, or even on a university campus. Design of the first degree program began late in November 2011 through a historical partnership between with the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District’s Summit Technology Academy, Metropolitan Community College-Longview Campus and UCM along with the Cerner Corporation, DST, and St. Luke’s Health System. “Moving at the Speed of Business,” 17 students entered into this new program in the summer of 2012. This initial cohort of students graduated from high school approximately the same time they finished their MCC associate degree. They finished their UCM four-year degree in two years and began work in their companies at an average starting salary of over $60,000. All of them accomplished these two years earlier than students who chose a more traditional pathway to completing their degree, and some of these students in that first cohort were barely 20 years old. It was through their courage to help build what’s possible that the number of students continues to grow along with the number of companies that are willing to help build the talent for the future of the region. Today, the MIC students have access to a state-of-the-art learning facility that is truly the result of a unique partnership between the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and UCM. Through a lease agreement, UCM accesses this facility at 60 percent of its total costs while the school district only pays 40 percent. The MIC facility provides high school for more than 600 students during the day and college/graduate school serving over 2,000 students all day and has been recognized nationally with architec-
File photo President Barack Obama visited UCM in 2013 and praised the MIC’s debt-free model and said, “That is exactly the kind of innovation we need when it comes to college costs.” tural awards for teaching/learning space. This is possible while also saving the Lee’s Summit community over $100 million for the cost of a fourth high school and saving UCM the cost of a new Lee’s Summit campus to meet learning needs in the K.C. region. What does the future hold for The MIC? Learning communities that range from Fredericksburg, Virginia, which are preparing talent for the new Amazon HQ2 project, to Ashland, Oregon, which are redefining talent for the southern region of the state are considering the MIC’s P-16 design as a model for their future. Here in Missouri, with Governor Parson’s focus on #Talent4Tomorrow and #BestinMidwest, the MIC partnerships, driven by workforce competencies, help define the outcome of college degrees and public education partnerships that drive better outcomes more cost efficiently, making the future of the MIC and its potential truly unlimited. Learning is both lifetime and seamless
— it’s history and tradition that define it in terms of high school, college and work. The Missouri Innovation Campus is a future-focused model that helps remove both barriers and costs to enable students to make the best use of their passion, purpose and dreams for their future. I am most grateful for the students who discovered these seamless pathways before they were ever created. Collectively, we have great teachers, faculty members and employers across the region who help students find the learning pathways that are most possible (on the basis of costs and quality). As the Missouri Innovation Campus continues its rapid evolution, learners (students) will continue to discover ways to create the future of education in Missouri and beyond. Chuck Ambrose is a former president for the University of Central Missouri, and currently serves as CEO for KnowledgeWorks in Cincinnati, Ohio.
4 ACADEMICS MIC offers certifications for non-traditional students March 7-27
Kaitlin Brothers News Editor
The Missouri Innovation Campus offers students who aren’t interested in traditional degrees a gateway into the workforce through certifications and skill-set trainings. Clarinda Dir is the operations manager of the Workforce Development Program. She said this job originally started out as a career services position. When she changed positions to be the operations manager, she kept the career-services aspect of the job, helping students with their resumes and interviewing skills. “Workforce Development is actually still working with students and with employers to fill job needs,” Dir said. “Most students come in and they’re afraid of interviewing. I recently worked with a student...he was really terrified of having to get in an interview. Eventually, he did his last interview and he told me, ‘I did so well with it. And I would never have done that if I hadn’t had that resource at UCM.’” Dir said they get good feedback from employers about the students who come from the program. “The employers, when they come in for mock interviews...they’re saying that (students) are very well-prepared,” she said. “And one of the education teachers actually told her students that a principal had called her and said, ‘You guys prepare your students better than anybody else at interviewing.’ It’s a great service to help them get ready and not be terrified when they do go for an interview.” The other half of her job is working in workforce development. She promotes the programs and works with the Federal employment council to get scholarships for students. The FEC is a job center based in Kansas City, Missouri. “It will pay for them to go start their career,” she said. “Any underserved individuals are helped through that. We’re trying to work on some programs that employers have need for...so we can offer certificates to fill those needs.”
Photo courtesy of Rick Smetana Certified nursing associate graduates hold their certificates on Feb. 21 at the MIC campus in Lee’s Summit. Dir said the program gets many students a job and sometimes the employers offer to pay for the schooling.
“I really enjoy working with the students because you are getting ready to start out and go toward your dream. It’s a fun time in your life.”
-Clarinda Dir
“The most recent (graduation) that we just did...Children’s Mercy had actually hired eight students and paid for their time at school, and FEC provided scholarships for them to get in,” she said. “All eight of them are going in with a job. When they
graduated, they had a job. They had a job when they were going to school.” Dir has been working for MIC full time for about four years. She said her favorite aspect of the job is engaging with students. “I really enjoy working with the students because you are getting ready to start out and go toward your dream. It’s a fun time in your life,” she said. “I actually left UCM for about a year and I really missed interactions with the students — being able to help them and develop relationships and watch them grow. Really that’s my favorite part is being able to help them kick off their careers.” Rick Smetana, operations manager at MIC, said the Workforce Development Program is for students who don’t want or need to get a traditional degree. “So essentially, as you know, UCM is a traditional four-year institution that does graduate and undergraduate work. Our
unit, Extended Studies, goes out and tries to assist in the education of people who don’t fit that normal four-year or graduate school track,” Smetana said. “That’s where our Workforce Development unit comes in.” CERTIFICATIONS, continued on Page 6
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ACADEMICS
The Muleskinner
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MIC provides small solutions to bigger issues I’ve had a great opportunity this semester to learn about the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit. The campus is the result of a collaboration between UCM, Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and Metropolitan Community college that places UCM and Summit Technology Academy in an innovative building with little to no physical barriers between classrooms and programs. Being almost six years removed from high school, it is such a pleasure to see where education is going with the success and recognition this building has received. During my high school career, I knew of Summit Tech and some people who attended. Those weren’t the same programs that now, in many cases, graduate students debt-free with the near certainty of a career. In fact, I had never heard of anything like that in high school.
Jason Brown Managing Editor
When I entered college in 2013, the only realistic option I was given was to pursue a four-year degree. I didn’t know what
I wanted to do and as far as I knew, that was fine. I officially changed my major twice and thought about doing it another 100 times. I have student loans that I’ll live with for some time and to top it all off, my uncertainty added another two years to my four-year degree. If I’ve learned anything from six years in college, it’s that there is no reason to not be urgent in your studies and the career you anticipate beginning. Perhaps my favorite thing about MIC is that it requires that you take control of your education from the onset to be one of those students who graduate debt-free and with a job. I was content with not knowing where I wanted to be in five years when I entered college and now I regret it more than anything. Of course, the way I experienced college in my six years is unique and many people finish in four years or sooner. They
get jobs, pay off their loans and (hopefully) make a career for themselves. I plan to do the same thing, but I can’t help imagining what higher education would be like if the MIC model was more widely available to students. There are intelligent people all over our communities who can’t afford to go to college and are wise enough to not fall into the pitfalls of student loan debt. What happens to them? For too long their potential was wasted because their checkbook couldn’t match their abilities in the classroom. The MIC puts forward a small solution to a big issue. Many universities would close their doors before they fully employed the model at the MIC. It requires innovation both architecturally and intellectually. The philosophy is an overhaul of the ideas that have dictated educating students on a large scale for decades.
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ACADEMICS
CERTIFICATIONS, continued from page 4 Smetana said the programs can get students through the FEC, which can provide scholarships. The MIC hosts an informative event from 4-6:30 p.m. the last Tuesday of every month called the Professional Training and Education Open House. The FEC comes to those events so students can see what certifications and scholarships are available. Smetana said an example of one of the program’s certificates is the certified nursing assistant, which they have offered for about five years. He said once students enroll and get their CNA, they do an internship or a clinical and then graduate from UCM with the certification. He said the CNA certification is accepted anywhere in Missouri, while the other certifications work for the Kansas City metropolitan area. He said other examples of certifications are project management, web development and computer programming.
March 7-27
“UCM is offering folks that aren’t interested in a traditional degree a way of bettering their lives via certification and skillset training,” Smetana said. Dir said she has had a lot of personal feedback from past students. “A lot of them will tell me that I’ve made
“A lot of people will tell me that I’ve made a difference. It’s kind of humbling.”
-Clarinda Dir
a difference. It’s kind of humbling,” she said. “I really have a heart for being able to give people who want to have an education and learning, being able to give them that — even when they can’t afford it.” Dir said this program is helpful for students who can’t afford to get a traditional degree.
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“With the workforce development, it gives an opportunity for students to have a win in life...to be able to graduate from a college with a certificate and make a livable wage, that’s a huge win for them.” Smetana said the biggest aspect he loves about the program is that it is an opportunity for students of all education levels. “The one amazing thing about the entire program is the folks that graduate from this, some of them have graduated high school and some of them who haven’t — they just have their GED — so when they graduate from UCM with their certificate, that could be the last graduation that they have or the first graduation that they have ever done,” he said. “It’s truly special to see (that) and invite their families, friends and folks that have supported them through this come in, watch them graduate and get that certificate and diploma form.” Smetana said Dir is a good manager for the Workforce Development Program and is very student-centered.
“Clarinda is special because she genuinely cares about the people she’s working with and helping,” he said. “Clarinda actually realizes that she’s helping people better their lives, and she takes pride in that. She gets very excited to see those students walk across and get their certificate because they know whenever they get that certificate, their lives are getting better.” Smetana said the program is helping nontraditional students get started in their careers. “I think it’s really important that the campus in Warrensburg does realize that we’re out here trying to help nontraditional students,” he said. “And that’s truly the cool part about the program. Once again, the four-year college isn’t for everybody. Graduate school isn’t for everybody. But UCM can find a way to help people who aren’t necessarily good four-year students but still want to help them and still want to improve their lives.”
ACADEMICS
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MIC fast-track for area students to start careers The MIC program offers students the ability to intern while receiving dual-credits in high school. Garrett Fuller Senior Writer
Kansas City area high school students are getting hands-on learning through a one-of-a-kind program offered at the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit. The University of Central Missouri and Metropolitan Community College is teaming up with 18 area school districts and various business partners to bring the project to life. The program initially started at the former Summit Technology Academy. Stan Elliott, director of the MIC program, said it allows high school students to gain real-world experience in five programs: system administration, design and drafting, software development, bioinformatics and cybersecurity. A sixth program, software engineering, will begin in the summer. Through MIC, students to gain real-world experience through a three-year internship. Elliott said students enroll in the MIC program their junior year of high school and have an internship by their senior year. While enrolled in the MIC program, Elliott said students earn dual credit from their high school. This allows students enrolled in the program the ability to receive a bachelor’s degree with two years of college rather than four. “That’s how we can accelerate them because our graduates get their bachelor’s degree two years after they graduate high school,” Elliott said. “So we have to depend on dual credit to accelerate them to that degree.” A major goal of the program is to not just allow students to graduate with real-world experience but to also graduate debt free. “With students, it’s a very popular pro-
gram because they’re graduating debt free their first two years of college,” Elliott said. “We pay the tuition. The program is all delivered here, so there’s no room and board. They don’t have to go to campus, so that’s a big cost savings for a lot of the students as well. And over that three-year paid internship, they average about $30,000 that they make doing that internship. So, that really helps to offset any costs that they have to pay for their last two years in the program.”
“One interesting fact that I’ve come to learn is that you can quadruple the amount of your net worth by not having any student debt.”
-Charles Link Charles Link, a junior from Lone Jack High School, is studying software development. He said the program will help students increase their net worth. “Based on some papers I’ve done, or that I’m doing currently, I know this (the MIC program) is definitely going to help with our individual lives,” Link said. “One interesting fact that I’ve come to learn is that you can quadruple the amount of your net worth by not having any student debt. And I think that it’s amazing that we can go through such amount of classes and not have to pay.” While the program seems like an excellent opportunity for many students, it requires a lot of hard work and dedication to reap the rewards of the program. Elliott said the program requires students to have a 3.0 GPA, test into college algebra and English on the ACT or AccuPlacer exams and have at least a 95 percent attendance record. Logan Infranca, a junior at Raytown High School, is studying software development. He haS one piece of advice for students considering the program.
Photo by Garrett Fuller / Senior Writer From left, Logan Infranca and Charles Link are high school juniors studying software development at the Missouri Innovative Campus in Lee’s Summit. The program allows high school students to jump-start their careers in six areas.
18 Participating School Districts Belton Blue Springs Center Grain Valley Grandview Harrisonville Hickman Mills Holden Independence
Kansas City Kingsville Lee’s Summit Lone Jack Midway R-1 Odessa Pleasant Hill, Raymore-Peculiar Raytown
Source: Summit Technology Academy website
“Make sure you have a lot of time management because you’re going to have to start balancing high school and college at the same time,” Infranca said. Elliott said the program has a 60-65 percent retention rate. However, there is a 99 percent placement rate among those who complete the program, with 98 percent of those students continuing to work for the company with which they interned. Currently, there are 96 students enrolled in the program from urban, suburban and
rural high schools. Elliott said 11 students graduated last May from the program. Elliott said the MIC program is unique nationwide. “We’re not aware of any other program that offers a bachelor’s degree two years after high school and a year-round, threeyear paid internship,” Elliott said. “We’re not aware of it and we’ve been told before by the U.S. Department of Ed that they’re not aware (of any other program.)”
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GENERAL/ADMIN
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Photo by George Mullinix/Gould Evans The Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit was completed and opened in 2017. The building was designed through a partnership between DLR Group and Gould Evans. The facility provides high school courses to students from 18 area school districts while also serving UCM students.
MIC building sets standard for educational architecture Jason Brown Managing Editor
Education continues to evolve and as curriculum changes from year to year, the buildings that students learn in are beginning to matching the innovation in the classroom. The Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit was created to reflect innovation both in the classroom and in the architectural design. Gould Evans and DLR Group partnered to design the 135,000square-foot MIC building in collaboration with UCM, the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and Metropolitan Community College. Upon completion in 2017, the MIC building received numerous awards, inspired educators across the country and allowed DLR and Gould Evans to break into new realms of architecture.
The R-7 District funded the $40 million facility through a no-tax-increase bond issue in 2015. Through the partnership with UCM, the R-7 District is paying for 40 percent while UCM covers the other 60 percent of the construction costs. The lease agreement for UCM spans 20 years but features four renewals that can give the facility 100 years of use. David Reid, principal at Gould Evans in Kansas City, said the MIC was the most innovative project either firm had taken on at the time. “It really set a new benchmark for how education should be viewed with more precedence set by workplace environments,” he said. UCM and the R-7 District previously housed their programs in a facility next door that has since been purchased by the Cerner Corporation.
Reid said the building was lacked many of the capabilities that both parties were looking for in the new facility. “To the credit of the MIC and Summit Tech staff, they were doing great work in the old facility, which if you’ve ever seen it was less than ideal,” he said. “The real value of the new building was to offer more flexibility and better support than what they were already able to do despite the facilities. I think they’ve all felt like it accelerates a student’s growth in these workplace competencies.” Part of the initial planning for the MIC involved soliciting opinions and feedback from the business partners that host student interns as well as students currently enrolled at UCM Lee’s Summit or Summit Technology Academy. “We had roundtable discussions with both the high school students at Summit
Tech and college students enrolled through UCM,” Reid said. “Those discussions were really instrumental in helping us understand the culture of what was happening in the existing facility and what was desired in the new one.” Reid said the direction they received was to create a building that did not draw inspiration from a school or an office building. “It had to be timeless and not bring any preconceptions,” Reid said. “It became really apparent that the interior functions were going to evolve over time. They (the MIC) are constantly starting new programs based on industry needs in the region. We took a very inside out approach to the building design to create an interior that was highly flexible and adaptable over time.” A more open floor plan that connected the different sections of the building was
GENERAL/ADMIN
The Muleskinner
Photo by Garrett Fuller / Senior Writer
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Photo by George Mullinix/Gould Evans David Reid
Since being completed, the Missouri Innovation Campus has received national recognition and awards in various competitions.
MIC ARCHITECTURE AWARDS IIDA-MADA Gold AGC-KC Building Excellence ENR Midwest Best of 2018: K-12 Education AIA Kansas Design AIA Central States Design AIA Kansas City Design Excellence
AS&U Education Interiors Showcase AS&U Architectural Portfolio KC Biz Journal Capstone Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Learning By Design Architectural Portfolio SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture
Architects: GouldEvans (principal David Reid), DLR Group (principal Kevin Greischar) used to differentiate from a normal school layout. “There are more opportunities for the different program areas to direct adjacencies to other program areas so there are opportunities for collaboration,” Reid said. “A typical school building is designed in wings with a corridor down the middle and that’s not the flexibility we were trying to accomplish.” The facility features 60 classrooms, many of which feature a glass wall that can slide out to allow classes to combine for collaboration. Nursing students are provided with technology that simulates a hospital wing. Rooms modeled to replicate a counselor’s
office were created to give students a feel for what they might work with in the future. The partnership between DLR and Gould Evans formed in part because of a nearly 20-year friendship between Reid and Kevin Greischar, principal at DLR, as well as both firms having connections with UCM and the R-7 District. Gould Evans has been an on-call contractor for UCM for some time and DLR worked with the Lee’s Summit District. Both firms are currently working together on a districtwide master plan for Lee’s Summit schools. Both firms began the project with the idea that the MIC facility would be nationally recognized after President Barack
Obama praised the concept in his 2013 visit to UCM. “Everybody knew this project was going to be in the national spotlight, which it has,” Reid said. “It had better be the best example of where education is going because of that recognition.” Both firms hosted interns from MIC, including students who were able to work hands-on with the development of the new facility. Reid said the firms typically hire college students who are closer to their graduation for their internships but have found that the MIC produces students who are ready for the task at a younger age. “It demands more maturity and account-
Photo courtesy of DLR Group Kevin Greischar ability. You have to be more self-motivated,” he said. “We talk a lot in our industry about self-regulated learning where students take ownership of managing their education and they (the MIC) are doing a great job of developing that early.” Reid said both firms are interested in continuing to create innovative buildings to help further education in the future. “The stuff that gets us out of bed in the morning is the opportunity to create more powerful learning experiences for students that will make them more successful in their careers,” he said. “If we continue the status quo in the way we teach, in rows and columns with desks, we’re doing our students a great disservice.”
10 TECHNOLOGY
March 7-27
MIC offers convenience to KC computer science students Garrett Fuller Senior Writer
Ryan Charles went back to school while working as a technical apprentice at Cerner. He attended the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri - Kansas City, but finally settled on studying computer science at UCM through the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit. While the computer science and cybersecurity programs are similar to those offered in Warrensburg, the MIC programs are more convenient to students living in the Kansas City area and offer innovative facilities to allow students to collaborate. Belinda Copus, undergraduate program coordinator and assistant professor for computer science, said the MIC offers the software development concentration of computer science, along with the two concentrations of cybersecurity: secure software development and cyber operations. Copus said approximately 80 students are enrolled in the computer science and cybersecurity programs at the MIC. She said about 40 of those students are in the MIC high school-to-bachelors program. Copus said prerequisites required to begin the program at the MIC must be taken at the Warrensburg campus, or taken at a different institution and transferred in. Copus said many of the students enrolled in the the MIC computer science and cybersecurity programs are nontraditional students like Charles. “A lot of times, these are professionals who are already working in the company doing some kind of software or cyber work,” Copus said. “So they’re already in their job. And they’re looking to get this degree for a promotion or to move into a different area.” Since the MIC is only about 15 miles from downtown Kansas City, it acts as an option for those in the Kansas City area wanting to continue their education. Charles said he prefers the MIC program over similar programs offered at other Kansas City area institutions, like KU
and UMKC. At KU, Charles disliked the amount of math in classes. “There was significantly more math at KU,” Charles said. “If I stayed with that program for computer engineering, I typically would’ve had to take Calc 3. That was no bueno for me.” Charles said many classes at UMKC were taught by graduate students. “(At) UMKC, I didn’t like the fact that everything was mainly taught by grad students,” Charles said. “That really irked me. If I’m paying for tuition, I’d like to be taught by someone who, at least, isn’t a student. “The fact that professors do teach here with a master’s or a Ph.D., I find more professional, I guess.” Charles said. Charles said he also likes the approachability of many professors. “A majority of the professors are very friendly and very down-to-earth,” Charles said. “And they explain the concepts pretty directly.” Charles said he owes a lot of his success at MIC to Copus. “Professor Copus is definitely the GOAT. She is the greatest of all time,” Charles said. “She has helped me significantly with everything - combing through my degree audit, transferring my classes, testing out of courses. The amount of work she does is phenomenal.” The MIC computer science and cybersecurity program offers greater flexibility as they’re taught in the evenings and on Saturdays, which is good news for those wanting to continue their education while keeping their job. At MIC, you’ll find students writing on the walls with dry-erase markers. Classrooms at the MIC lack computers, including computer science classrooms. Students at MIC are expected to bring their own devices. Classes at MIC are also more heavy on collaborative work. “Our students will take several classes which incorporate group projects in which the students collaborate to find creative solutions to real-world computing problems,” Copus said.
Photo by Garrett Fuller / Senior Writer Ryan Charles, a senior in the computer science program at the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit, works on a coding assignment. Charles is one of many nontraditional students who commute to classes from Kansas City. Although Charles has missed out on freshman and sophomore classes, he said a majority of the classes he has taken at the MIC are nearly perfect. “A majority of them are perfect for preparing a student for the workforce in general in the industry,” Charles said. However, Charles has one suggestion for an improvement to some of the computer science and cybersecurity courses offered at MIC.
“The focus of them could be redirected in a sense that is more applicable to prepare students for what is coming in the future — for going into a corporation or whether it’s working here in Kansas City or going to Seattle or going to The Valley in California,” Charles said. “But a majority of classes, again, are perfect for that and they offer a lot of materials.”
TECHNOLOGY 11
The Muleskinner
Battling it out: STA program teaching robot design Kaitlin Brothers News Editor
An after-school program on the Missouri Innovation Campus teaches juniors and seniors in high school how to build battlebots for competition. Eric Walters, an instructor and adjunct professor at UCM, helps run the program called Summit Cubed. He said students involved with Summit Cubed learn how to build the bots within certain guidelines, weight restrictions, voltage requirements and the proper design for competition. Walters said he has been involved with Summit Cubed for three years and in that time they have won first at a Kansas City regional competition and advanced to a national tournament. He said they had software programming students two years ago try to write their own code for the battle bots. “It turned out to be pretty daunting,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get a little further next year.” Walters said they use 3D printing to help build the pieces for battlebots. But the first year they did it, he said it didn’t quite go as planned. “It was really awesome. Unfortunately we made it too big,” he said. “It was a little cumbersome to drive...so we didn’t do su-
per good with that one.” Walters said they did much better in the competition with the next bot they built using 3D printed parts in 2017. “That one won first place at the Kansas City regionals,” he said. “Then we went to nationals.” He said they used a metal-made battlebot last year, changed to different tires and used 3D printing for the rims and conceptual pieces. He said they got 12th last year at nationals out of 69 other battlebot teams, including college teams. To win, the teams have to get aggressive. “You get graded on how aggressive you were,” he said. “You can get points, too, if you’re defensive and if you do things that are well thought out. Eventually if you immobilize the other bot either by destroying it or you can knock it on its backside like a turtle, you win.” Walters said it can be hard to grasp at first, but the students learn a lot along the way. “It is tough for juniors to really wrap their mind around this stuff. And when you start trying to work with multiple pieces and assembling in CAD (computer-aided design) systems, it’s a whole level harder,” he said. “They worked really hard and we’ve got a lot of cool ideas. We could have just cobbled things together, but that’s also the teams that don’t win.”
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Photo by Garrett Fuller / Senior Writer Eric Walters assists the high school battlebot after-school program.
12 HEALTH
Still thinking about
March 7-27
STUDYING “Study Abroad” BW Ad future Nursing tech prepares for1/4the ABROAD?studentsDesigned by Garrett Fuller Erin Wides
camera in the simulation room that zooms degree March 2, 2019 in to better see Get the skills the credits students abroad! perFeatures Editor form. Summer and Fall exchange W541 Talking and breathing mannequins are Students begin hands-on learning in the programs in: now in the hands of UCM nursing students second week of the program, starting off at one of the top nursing simulation centers with the initial stepsThe of learning how to talk Netherlands and facilities in the Kansas City area. to a patient. Korea When the Missouri Innovation Campus “The first semester, students will have FONTS USED: Japan opened in August 2017, the nursing pro- one patient that they come and see five Lydian BT, Lydian Csv BT gram received some of the highest quality times,” Hoffman said. “His name is Jean Croatia technologies and most elaborate spaces. Brodsky, and they really get to know him Germany “The rooms are set up, truly, like a hos- and talk to him because that’s the semespital,” said Sara Hoffman, BSN program ter we just wantPay them to get comfortable UCM tuition and save coordinator and assistant professor of nurs- talking to people, touching and getting money! ing. more information.” There are three main parts to the nursing FallInprograms the secondat semester, they’ll slightUniversity of get Roehampton section of the building — the simulation and ly more advanced tasks, such as redressing University of Ghana - Lhegon center, a skills lab and a classroom. wounds on a surgical patient. (our most affordable program!) Photo by Erin Wides/Features Editor Hoffman said the simulation center has “Or they’ll have a patient who has diaNursing students Hailey Seeley, center, and Courtney Hawley, four mock hospital rooms and two control betes and they need to check their blood right, practice CPR and using an automated external defibrillator. Grants up to $1,000! Visit Union 302 or ucmo.edu/studyabroad rooms. Instructors sit in a control room sugar and then determine how much medand observe the hospital room through a ication they’re going give that patient,” one-way mirror. Within the control rooms, INSTRUCTIONS: Hoffman said. LAYOUT professors have the ability to control manBy the third semester, students are get(also contained in readme) nequins as well as talk to and hear the stu- ting patients where their blood sugar is dents. 1. Decompress .zip filedropping and ifinto there’sserver no intervention, contents folder. “One of them (mannequin) can deliver they can go into a coma and no longer Study abroad and get (Links > Advertisements a baby and they all breathe,” said Jordan speak to> the[create student. new folder Claussen, third nursingfiles] student. “They don’t want to believe that that degree credits! forsemester this ad’s “I think you can draw blood off some happens,” Hoffman said. “Or a patient who ad graphics inand this document Summer and Fall exchange of them 2. and Copy you can grouped listen to their heart has chest pain they’ve had an intervensounds.”3. Paste grouped ad graphics tion and they’re but if like they programs in: intobleeding spotout, you’d In the control room, professors can cre- don’t check their brain to see if they’re the adthattostudents be may or bleeding out, they slowly then get worse ate realistic scenarios may not encounter in a You’re clinical setting. For until they could die.” 4. Viola! done. example, if a patient is having chest pains, Hoffman said the simulations are about the student would need to check the brain putting them through scenarios to be sure to see if they’re bleeding out and go from they make safe decisions as a nurse. TROUBLESHOOTING there. “Half of our group is watching (in the deIf the fonts onarethe graphic are strange or “In the5.rooms, the mannequins run ad brief room) and there’s cameras,” Claussen by computers,you so inare the room in betweenansaid. “So we watch each other do the simureceiving error regarding missing we are using the computers to change their lation, which is pretty scary.” the fonts included Pay UCM tuition and breath soundsfonts, or their install blood pressure, to When students in are the going comthrough the change any setting that we want,” Hoffman simulation, time can seembe to disappear. pressed .zip file. (These should also copied save money! said. “We have headsets in there where we “The time goes by so fast in there,” theandadwefolder properly decomFall programs at: can push the into mic button speak forif you Claussen said. “All of a sudden you’ve University of Roehampton the patients.”pressed the .zip file.)been in there for 30 minutes.” Grants up to $1,000! Visit Hoffman said there’s also a microphone The scenarios they are given help to enUniversity of Ghana - Lhegon Union 302 or 6. If you’re still having problems, contact me at so professors can hear the students, as well courage the growth of their critical think(our most affordable program!) ucmo.edu/studyabroad as a TV in the control room. There is a ing skills. Hoffman said this allows them gfuller@ucmo.edu.
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HEALTH 13
The Muleskinner
to make mistakes in a safe environment. “We’d rather them make a mistake in the simulation center where then we can go to debriefing and talk about, ‘What would you do differently?’ than if they made that mistake in a hospital setting,” Hoffman said. Claussen said most of the patients she has come across in clinicals are pleasant. The simulations are more harsh. “They give us the mean, kind of crazy patients, which is not what you come across all the time,” Claussen said. “They want you to see worst case. This is how mean or erratic they can be and what can happen as the patient declines in heath.” After they’ve gone through simulation, they take time to debrief and talk about what worked and what didn’t. “Students can be very stressed after simulation because they never know what to expect and they really have anxiety build up,” Hoffman said. “In debriefing, we really go in with the idea of it’s very student-led. We start with very open-ended questions and during that discussion there’s just so many other avenues that are opened up for even further discussion.” When students are not doing simulations in the center, they are practicing the techniques they’re learning down the hall in the skills lab. Hoffman said the skills lab is an open area with beds – some of them with mannequins, some of them empty – and that’s where the students actually practice skills. “We reviewed chest compressions for CPR, we reviewed nutrition for people who can’t eat, intracranial pressure for people who come in with head trauma,” Clauss-
en said. “It’s practicing, learning hands on what we can do in clinicals so when we come across a patient that has that injury, we can treat them.” The space alone cannot get students ready. It’s the professors and their training that prepare them. Hoffman said all of the faculty are required to complete a nursing program. Several have continued on as a nurse in another job. “I think that it’s very important so then we know what they’re going through,” Hoffman said. “It allows us to know how to best teach them because we all know how differently we learn, so it helps us present them with different teaching and learning methods.” Claussen said she is confident in all of her faculty. “Every single professor that I’ve come across has been amazing,” Claussen said. “They are all very knowledgeable.” The space is able to create a lot of opportunities for students. Claussen said she has friends in nursing programs all over the state and they don’t have the level of technology that the MIC campus has. “I think, statewide, this is one of the best places for nursing because it’s just so new and we have access to everything,” Claussen said. Hoffman said they have a perfect and realistic setup. The newest technology ensures they have hands-on experience with all the necessary tools. “We really try to put out a very prepared student and we’ve been successful with that, especially with this new facility,” Hoffman said.
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14 CENTRAL SCOOP
This Week Open Mic Night with Spotlight 7 p.m. | Elliott Student Union
7
THURS.
Union Cinema Movie: “Mary Poppins Returns” 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. | Union Cinema Nav Night sponsored by the Navigators 8 p.m. | Alumni Memorial Chapel Jennies basketball vs. Central Oklahoma 8:15 p.m. | Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City
8
FRI.
9
SAT.
Mules baseball vs. Central Oklahoma 2 p.m. | Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field Union Cinema Movie: “Mary Poppins Returns” 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. | Union Cinema UCM Trading Moon Pow Wow Noon | SRWC Mules baseball vs. Central Oklahoma 2 p.m. | Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field Union Cinema Movie: “Mary Poppins Returns” 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m.,
10 SUN.
Mules baseball vs. Central Oklahoma 1 p.m. |Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field
11
MON.
Education & Human Services Career Expo 1-3 p.m. | Multipurpose Building
12
Dinner & Worship: BSU 6 p.m. | 302 S. College St.
TUE.
13 WED.
Jennies softball vs. Missouri S&T 2 p.m. | South Recreational Complex/Jennies Field Mules baseball vs. Rockhurst 3 p.m. | Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field Halfway Hotcakes (FREE PANCAKES!) 7 p.m. | Union Atrium
March 7-27
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NEWS 15 Difficulty Level:
The Muleskinner
Puzzle by Hang Chen and Curt
Coming Up Sudoku
Sudoku 1
03-07-2019
14
THURS.
15 FRI.
26 TUE.
27 WED.
MAD: Spring Break Bingo 8 p.m. | SRWC Upper Courts Nav Night sponsored the Navigators DifficultybyLevel: 8 p.m. | Alumni Memorial Chapel
Puzzle by Open Archery 8 p.m. | SRWC
Hang Chen and Curtis Cooper
Sudoku is a number-placement consists of 9x9 squares. The obje each blank square so that each ro BY HANG CHEN AND CURTIS COOPER column, and each of the nine 3x3 time each.
9
2 8
4 5 8
9 3
3 7
6 3 4 Difficulty
3 1 9 7
Sudoku is a number-placement puzzle that 4 9 of 9x9 squares. The objective is to fill Ideasconsists & Issues: Ken & Barbie 8 4 2 4 p.m. each| Union blank240 square so that each row, each Dinner & Worship: BSU column, and each of the nine 3x3 blocks contain the numbers from 1 to 9 one 6 p.m. | 302 S. College St. time each.
Recreation & Leisure: UCM Bought a Zoo 10 a.m. | Selmo Park
SOLUTION FROM FEB. 28 - MARCH 6
DIG Worship: Christian Campus House 7:30 p.m. | 211 S. Maguire St.
Mark your calendars! Sudoku solution:
6 9 2 3 4 5 7 8 1 5 8 1MARCH 9 7 2 6 3 4 7 3 4 8 6 1 9 2 5 1 2 8 4 5 9 3 7 6 9 6 7 1 8 3 5 4 2 3 4 5 6 2 7 8 1 9 2 1 9 5 3 8 4 6 7 Read 4the 7 next 3 2 Muleskinner 9 6 1 5 8 on 8 5 6 7 1 4 2 9 3
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2018-2019 Muleskinner Staff Jason Brown Kaitlin Brothers Erin Wides
Managing Editor News Editor Features Editor
Brent Young
Design Editor
Garrett Fuller
Senior Writer
Anaiyeh Smith
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Chris Moore Cody Clemmons Matt Bird-Meyer
Business Manager Advertising Manager Faculty Adviser
Sudoku solution:
7 8 4 1 9 3 2 5 6
9 2 1 6 5 4 8 3 7
5 3 6 7 2 8 9 4 1
2 7 9 3 8 6 4 1 5
4 5 3 2 1 9 7 6 8
1 6 8 4 7 5 3 9 2
3 1 2 5 4 7 6 8 9
6 9 5 8 3 2 1 7 4
8 4 7 9 6 1 5 2 3
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