Introducing Lakota Career Connections: Built by Students, Powered by Community

Imagine a high school where every single student graduates not just with a diploma, but with a multitude of career-focused experiences. That is the bold mission driving the new Lakota Career Connections (LCC), a student-led endeavor that doubles as an actual class for 10 students at each high school campus.

The full-year course, piloted at Lakota West last school year before expanding to Lakota East this year, is designed to scale out real-world learning and career exploration opportunities across both campuses – ultimately giving every students at least one meaningful experience before they graduate. Student leaders have quickly realized that they aren’t just taking a class; they are running an enterprise where their clients are the entire East and West student bodies. 

“Even I didn’t fully know what we were getting into,” admitted East LCC teacher Travis Small, who told his class on the first day that he didn’t know exactly what they were going to do or how they were going to do it. That was all by design of course to reiterate their ownership of the process and outcome. “The coolest thing is we get to be the pioneers.” 

“It’s really intimidating to start something new, but I’m really glad to be here,” said Lakota East student Hayden Vargo.

Rather than relying on a traditional top-down curriculum, Lakota is purposefully putting students in the driver’s seat, but only after they’ve gone through an intense application and interview process to land a spot in the class. They range from sophomores to seniors too, giving the program a built-in succession plan for long-term sustainability. 

“The course itself functions like an internship,” said Andrew Wheatley, who is helping facilitate community connections for LCC students in his new role as Lakota’s director of career exploration and strategic partnerships. “Teams are able to accomplish far more than a single person. Plus, students know best what will appeal most to their peers,” he added. 

It’s an ambitious vision and one that cannot be achieved in isolation, Wheatley acknowledges. To truly transform high school education into a launching pad for the real world, LCC students like East's Eliana Rau realize the most transformative work they can do is lay the groundwork for an active network of local business and community partnerships. 

“A lot of people don’t realize how economically diverse this area is,” Rau said. “There is so much opportunity to build connections and give students those experiences that will help answer so many questions about what they want their future to look like.” 

LCC sits at the pinnacle of a redesigned business program that will be Lakota’s ninth official “Purposeful Pathway,” if approved by the Lakota Board of Education this November for full implementation in the 2027-2028 school year. The pathway will be complete with a range of introductory business courses as well as Lakota’s longstanding INCubatorEdu experience, which is structured like a “Shark Tank” for aspiring entrepreneurs. 

Pioneering a New Approach

Guided by Wheatley as well as Small and West LCC teacher Taylor Cumberledge, the program was inspired in part by Mason High School’s established Experiential Learning Program (XLP). Many years after its start, XLP has grown into a robust program complete with 50-plus partnerships, programming and even a training series for students preparing for an internship or job shadowing experience.

Already this school year, LCC students and their instructors have visited the neighboring high school to observe their model in action. The biggest takeaway from that visit? Start small, build a rock-solid foundation and let students lead the way. 

“There aren’t many times in your life that you can say, ‘I made something from nothing,’ and that’s essentially what these kids are doing,” Cumberledge said. “Learning things from last year and being okay with going slow and doing it correctly is key. If we hadn’t gone through the early struggles as a team, we wouldn’t have learned as much.”

Because LCC is mostly student-led, these "student pioneers" are building the entire infrastructure from scratch. That includes designing logos, establishing internal systems for organization, creating standard protocols and procedures and creating something they call “event playbooks” that future cohorts can use for years to come to help efficiently coordinate event logistics.

“We’re constantly running into roadblocks, so it’s easy to get discouraged, but it was exciting to visit Mason and see where all of this has the potential to go if we keep working,” said Lakota West student Makenna Jones. 

The Power of Student-to-Student Connection

Why put high schoolers in charge of building a system for career readiness and exploration? Because students know their peers better than anyone else.

“We know what we want and we can talk to kids. We can connect with them more than most adults can,” explained Lakota West student Carter Johnston.

That peer-to-peer advantage was on full display with a project seen through during LCC’s pilot year at Lakota West. A local business, Delicious Design Cookies, approached the student team about offering an internship, but when mass-marketed across the school, zero students applied.

Recognizing that the offer would appeal more to future teachers than future bakers, West’s LCC team applied a more targeted "sales funnel" strategy. They identified students interested in education careers and pitched the opportunity directly to them. The result was a flood of applicants, a successful placement and a lightbulb moment for the LCC program: Generic, mass communication can get lost; targeted, student-driven outreach works.

To help map out these targeted connections and prioritize programming needs, LCC teams at both East and West have been digging into YouScience data, one tool Lakota uses to capture students’ top career interests, and then adapt course offerings accordingly. LCC leaders are also administering their own student interest surveys and have gone as far as to create “beats” that they each own when it comes to cultivating partnerships and developing programming.

“I was surprised by how unequal the distribution was,” said Makenna, pointing out that initial data showed huge peaks in fields like health sciences and business, but fewer students eyeing trade or military options. That’s a gap she and her team hope to bridge by simply exposing peers to options they might not have considered otherwise.

The implementation of a survey was a lesson in itself, uncovering systematic challenges with effectively communicating across the entire student body. It’s just one of the many things LCC students are problem solving as they go. 

What’s on the Horizon?

While the teams are focusing heavily on foundation building, big initiatives are already taking shape for this school year:

• Speaker Series: Both classes are collaborating on the first in a series of targeted speaker panels. Focused on health sciences, the idea is to bring in a diverse panel of professionals. Rather than just lecturing, guest speakers will share their career trajectories, daily experiences and how their careers direct their lifestyles.
   
• Real World 101: Both groups are reimagining the longstanding “Real World 101” day that many of them experienced at their respective freshman campuses. In an effort to make it even more interactive and hands-on, the students are integrating sessions that tackle essential life skills, like changing a tire or oil, building resumes and knowing what to do during a traffic stop, as well as demonstrations from skilled trades like plumbing and welding.
   
• Teacher Resource Database: LCC isn't just serving students; it’s empowering staff. By building a centralized directory of vetted local speakers and industry contacts, LCC aims to give teachers a ready-to-use database that will make it easier than ever to bring real world experts into their classrooms. “It should be a tool for our students, but more of a tool for our students to complement what they’re doing in their classroom,” said East student Tillie Vernon.

On both sides, students have already responded to a handful of their peers’ direct requests, connecting them with job shadowing and internship experiences that match their career interests. For Lakota East student Madison Springmyer, she sees every touchpoint as a drive for students to do more research about the supposed career they have their sights set on. “I hope we can at least give them an idea of what they’re signing up for before they’re too deep into a major or a career,” she said. 

For students like Avery Rodriguez-Swann at Lakota East, the mission hits close to home. “In junior high, I absolutely dreaded one of my classes except for the days when speakers came in,” she recalled. “Their visits helped me find passions like public speaking that I’m invested in to this day. I just want to see more students engaged and provide them with something to look forward to at school.”

A Call to Action for the Lakota Community

Building an ecosystem that literally offers thousands of unique experiences requires strong community roots. Local partners in West Chester and Liberty Townships are already stepping up, but the LCC team is actively looking to expand its reach.
Whether it’s participating in a career panel, hosting a student shadow day, offering an internship or simply visiting a class, local businesses and even alumni hold the key to unlocking these opportunities.

“The Lakota community is so big, but it’s actually small when you’re doing work like this. People want our kids to do well, but they don’t always know how,” said Cumberledge. “Our hope is that anyone in any job who sees this realizes there is a Lakota student out there with that exact same passion.”
 

How to Get Involved: Are you a local business owner, professional or Lakota alum who wants to inspire the next generation? Whether you can spare an hour for a speaker panel or want to host an intern, the Lakota Career Connections team wants to hear from you! Contact andrew.wheatley@lakotaonline.com to express your interest in becoming a community partner today.