CAPS Network Entrepreneur Panel Discussions Hosted by St. Louis CAPS
On Friday, October 20th the St. Louis CAPS program welcomed over 120 high school seniors from four states (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Wisconsin) to Downtown T-REX, a technology startup incubator. Even though the students were from different states, and attend different high schools, the common thread that brought them together was that they all participate in CAPS. CAPS stands for Center for Advanced Professional Studies and the national CAPS Network spans 11 states, 33 programs and 70 high schools. On this particular day students from 9 of the 33 CAPS programs assembled for a chance to network and connect with local entrepreneurs as well as each other.
The morning began by allowing students from different CAPS programs to network with one another and connect with students in similar course offerings from other states. The rest of the day was spent interacting with four different entrepreneur panels. Each entrepreneur brought their own story, message and inspiration for students to absorb. The CAPS student associates researched panelists and organizations prior to the event and during the panel sessions the student questions drove the conversation. At the conclusion of each panel there was time for students to connect one-on-one with panelists.
Students that participate in CAPS programs spend an entire year learning directly from business and industry partners in the career field they are interested in pursuing. The CAPS courses offered align to high-skill, high-demand professional workforce needs in the local economy. Instead of traditional high school assignments, students work on client projects and passion projects that are usually equated with professionals already in a particular business and industry. We often say that CAPS students are allowed to fast-forward beyond college to test-drive their future career while still in high school.
CAPS Network Programs in Attendance:
St. Louis CAPS – Missouri
Parkway Spark! – Missouri
Wentzville Ignite! – Missouri
St. Charles CAPS – Missouri
Northland CAPS – Missouri
Blue Valley CAPS – Kansas
TCALC in Topeka – Kansas
EXCEL in Little Rock – Arkansas
Oconomowoc – Wisconsin
Thank you to our 15 panelists:
Sylvestor Chisom
Founder & President Showroom Shine Express Detailing and The Young Entrepreneur Publishing Group
Ronnie Notch
Co-Founder and CEO Notes for Life and Founding Partner of Breach eSports
Conrad Sansone
Co-Owner of The Normal Brand
Devin Turner
Co-Founder at FocalCast and Entrepreneur in Residence at Capital Innovators
Sarah Badahman
Founder at HIPAAtrek
Abby Cohen
Co-Founder and Co-CEO Sparo Labs
Monica Wisdom Tyson
Entrepreneur and Chief Strategist, Zenith Bleu Consulting
Bobby Everetts
Senior IT Security Consultant Brown Smith Wallace
Elaine Queatham
Founder and CEO at Savvy Coders
Jo Otey
Customer Success Manager at Microsoft
Arika Parr
Community Development Specialist at Microsoft
John Clark
President and CEO at Masterclock
Brandon Dempsey
Owner of goBRANDgo!, Author of Shut Up and Go
Kunal Parbadia
Chief Operating Officer at Better Weekdays
Jennifer Carroll
Owner and Pharmacist at Medicine Shoppe
