[ ]CAPTIVATETHE STUDENT MAGAZINE OF THE BLUE VALLEY CAPS COMMUNITY

Dec. 2012 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 7501 W. 149TH TERRACE, OVERLAND PARK, KAN. 66223

Room for InnovationNew space expands horizons for ideation, collaboration and innovation...pages 4-5

Also read:A Closet for All:Student Blake Carnes hopes to use CAPS to grow her nonprofit clothing service...page 3

Creating a Law:Student McKinzey Manes works to pass a bill for new driver safety...page 6.

Photo by Courtney Schutz

CAPTIVATECAPTIVATE is a publication of the Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) program. 7501 W 149th Terrace, Overland Park, Kan. 66223.

CAPTIVATE is a student-run publication, created by the CAPS iMedia class. The goal of this publication is to promote activities and events occuring in the Blue Valley CAPS program.

Editor:Meghan Ketcham

Staff Members:Morgan MobleyAlex Sher

Adviser: Bruce McRoberts

Photographers:Hannah DyerCourtney SchutzAbby WeidnerKelsey Worley

[2]

CAPS Student Profiles

Sydney Kennedy is currently working with case studies in the Foundations of Medicine class at CAPS. Outside of CAPS, Kennedy is train-

ing hard in gymnastics. She competes fiercely and practices daily. Spend-ing nearly five hours a day practicing, Kennedy speaks fondly of the sport and her team. “My favorite part of gymnastics is competing and being part of a team,” Kennedy says. “My team-mates and I go through so much together and we’re with each other over five hours everyday. They’re my second family and we sup-port each other through everything. I enjoy compet-ing because that is when I get to perform everything I practiced and learned all year long.” Gymnastics is a significant part of Kennedy’s life. Competing from an early age, Kennedy has had a

different childhood than most. Although Kennedy makes many sacrifices for gymnastics, she has learned many different skills faster than most adolescents. “My life has always been pretty busy because of

gymnastic, but that’s what I am used to and I love it!” Kennedy had a big goal in mind while spending long hours in the gym. “My main goal was always to get a full ride scholarship to do gymnastics at a division one college,” Kennedy says. “Over the summer I reached my goal and got a full ride scholar-ship to Illinois State. I am so happy I

achieved my goal because I know all my hard work and dedication over the last 10 years has paid off.” Even after accomplishing a large goal, Kennedy continues to accept more challenges and to raise her ambitions. ”My next goal is to compete in the NCAA’s!”

Callum Kerr works hard in the Computer In-tegrated Manufacturing class at CAPS. Kerr and his team are preparing for a state tourna-

ment in Minneapolis. Beyond CAPS, Kerr enjoys competing in wheel-chair basketball. He has gained priceless memories with this opportunity, and has learned to use his abili-ties to the fullest. Reflecting on his experience, Kerr speaks positively of the activity. “I participate in wheel-chair basketball because it is good exercise, both physically and mentally,” Kerr says. “My favorite part is that it is a team-based sport. You can’t win by

yourself. We’ve learned to master communication, and as a result we’ve really grown close.” Wheelchair basketball is even more of a challenge

than regular basketball, requir-ing more strength and tenacity. “Shooting the ball from down low takes a lot more strength to get it a farther distance,” Kerr says. “There are also different rules. If you get out of your chair, it’s a foul. That’s why we have straps to hold us in.” Kerr notes that his coach is a source of inspiration to him.

“One of my coaches is actually on the US Para-lympics team,” Kerr says. “It’s cool to be able to look up to her.”

written by MORGAN MOBLEY photos by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

Callum Kerr

Sydney Kennedy

Photographers:Hannah DyerCourtney SchutzAbby WeidnerKelsey Worley

[3]CAPTIVATE News

Written by ALEX SHERPhotos Courtesy of BLAKE CARNES

Not many people would see a need for cloth-ing and be inspired to start a service that distributes clothing to thousands of people.

Blake Carnes is a student at BV High and the CAPS program who did just that. She plays tennis and is in the CAPS Sports Medicine class. In her free time, she runs a clothing service that has served more than 1700 people. “Blake’s Closet is a nonprofit that provides food and clothing to those in need in our community,” Kim Carnes, Blake Carnes’ mom says. “The people who receive the goods that Blake collects come through agencies in the county, Catholic Charities, Safe Home and other organizations.” On Oct. 20, Blake’s Closet held its third annual distribution at the Presbyterian Church of Stanley. It had more volunteers than any of the previous dis-tributions and gave away over 1400 bags of clothing. CAPS students made a promotional video to encour-age students to donate clothing, donated clothing and helped distribute clothing. Blake Carnes started Blake’s Closet in 2010 with the help of her family and a few close friends. Her first distribution served 700 people and the success encouraged participants to continue the organization and hold annual distributions. The 2011 distribution had almost three times as many people as the 2010 distribution had. While Blake’s Closet is a fairly new organization, Blake Carnes is not new to the idea of helping others; she held her first food drive when she was in fourth grade, seeing the need for food in the community. “Blake has been a long time volunteer of the Blue Valley Multi-Service Center. She has helped us in many ways throughout the years, and is really com-mitted to helping out families in need in our commu-nity,” BVMSC’s Community Social Services Manager,

Julie Marshall, says. She has volunteered for them for more than seven years and, when their clothing closet closed in 2010, she was determined to continue providing clothing for those in need. “When Blake decided to help meet the cloth-ing needs of families in crisis in our community, she was basically starting her own non-profit from the ground up,” Marshall says. “I helped by sharing resources in the community with her as they were getting started: volunteers, donors and connections for possible locations to hold Blake’s Closet. She and her family did the rest.” Blake Carnes has worked hard to help those in need of clothing, a need that affects many more people than one might think. “We had a neighbor who had a large home that was very nice that they had to walk away from,” Kim Carnes says. “They showed up at the distribution for assistance. That is when it becomes real.” Blake Carnes loves the feeling of helping others. “My favorite part is getting to interact with the cli-ents and hearing their stories,” Blake’s website states. “Seeing their smiles makes every bit of effort put into the closet worth it.” Blake Carnes has done much of the work required to run Blake’s Closet, but she has also seems to have a lot of help and support to keep her going. “It really has been a family affair,” Kim Carnes says. “Blake has the vision and knows what she wants done and what needs to be done and the rest of her family act as her behind the scenes team.” For the future, Blake Carnes wants to find a per-manent place to organize, store and distribute cloth-ing. She is hoping to team up with CAPS and plans on holding two distributions in 2013 that provide lunches and toiletries in addition to clothing. Blake Carnes has given back to her community for years and does not appear to want to stop anytime soon.

Student continues to build nonprofit clothing service

Inspired by this story? Here’s another way to give: Bring in new or lightly used school supplies or cash donations to the donation box in the iMedia classroom through January. These supplies will be sent through People to People International to Morocco where just over 50% of the population is illiterate.

Building a Bigger Closet

Blake CarnesFounder

[ ]

Make, Create, Innovate.

[4] CAPTIVATE Features

New Innovate space allows room for students to create their own innovations.

Innovation Timeline2009- CAPS began with 250 students in satellite places such as Black & Veatch and Sprint locations.

2010- CAPS facility built and students moved inside.

2011- CAPS saw students making en-treprenurial startups. They asked for a space for collaboration, so CAPS began researching, writing curriculum, and designing a new space for students to collaborate.

2012- CAPS Innovate Space opened, allowing students to participate in the Accelerator and the Innovate class.

2013 and Beyond- Infinite possibilities for CAPS students.

Make. Create. Innovate.As students stepped into the CAPS building for its third year last August, glass walls, blue

chairs, and spacious tables captured the eyes of all who passed the new 7,000 square foot space on the second floor. What had formerly been a shelled area, blocked off to students, had transformed into a space meant to inspire ideas, excel growth, and open the doors of opportunity. Unlike the traditional classroom, this space offers couches, meeting rooms, and labs. The glass walls keep the environment open for all to enter, and the casual furniture gives the room a warm feeling. The space is meant for collaboration between students, to toss around ideas, share skills, and play with the possibili-ties. The space was not always intended for collaboration. A year after the launch of CAPS, it came time to fill the space that had been left empty for expansion. Involved from nearly the beginning, Scott Kreshel, Strengths Coach of the Innovate space, says that many had a role in deciding what would go into the space. “We had a big question mark in the middle of it,” Kreshel says. “Just like how we launched CAPS, we went back and asked the business partners, our com-munity, our parents, and our students to answer that question for us. What needs to go there?” All involved came to the conclusion that a space was needed for allow cross-collaboration between the strands and classes.

“They realized that there was lots of talent in this space,” Kreshel says. “They started knocking down the barriers and saying ‘I need to go and find that design kid, that film kid, or that business kid to work with them.’ We really didn’t have a class or a space dedicated to that other than the innovation atrium, but it didn’t have the tools and the labs that we needed.” The idea for an innovation space also claims origins in those that have already been built for young, intel-ligent minds in the universities. Donna Deeds, the Executive Director of CAPS, says that these inspired the CAPS Innovate space. “What we saw in universities was that they were developing entrepreneurial programs too,” Deeds says. The space is not just for collaboration. The Innovate space is a home to the CAPS Accelerator, a program that allows students to develop their startups and to get them off of the ground. The program takes student through several steps to incubate their small businesses and to eventually launch them. During Demo Day, students present their projects to potential business partners. “Small businesses are called startups early on when they start to launch,” Kreshel says. “These startup com-panies will go into an incubator program where they receive intense training or coaching around business. Kauffman labs has a similar incubator program.” With the space coming together, something was missing from the plan: a class. A brand new class, In-novate, was designed to combine all of these elements

It’s all about the innovator and not necessarily the innovation.

-Scott Kreshel, Innovate Strengths Coach

[ ]

[5]CAPTIVATE Features

New Innovate space allows room for students to create their own innovations.

into one place. “Can we have a great space and a great idea but not a class?” Kreshel says. “The answer was no. In order to launch it and get it funded, we needed to have a class that would live in that space. So that’s where we came up with the class ‘Innovate’. “ The curriculum is more flexible than other classes, giving the students the freedom to create their own projects. Students go through each phase indepen-dently without a classroom philosophy to allow projects to be completed on their own schedules. It is designed around the three D’s- discovery, development, and delivery. During the discovery phase, students look at their surroundings with ‘traveler’s eyes’, seeing the world from a new perspective to discover problems or ques-tions. In the development phase, students create a product and display it during Pitch Day, when students pitch their idea to other CAPS students and business partners. The final phase is delivery, where students market their product and start up a business. “I really like that it is independent,” Innovate senior Gaby Lobo says. “We have a set of deadlines, but we really get to choose our own product and work with a team member. We get to create our own plan of action.” Lobo is working with Innovate junior Charlie Welsh to develop a product that protects people from the spread of malaria and other diseases. “I like that I got to do a project that I was interested in,” Lobo says. “I’m really interested in seeing some way

to prevent malaria and prevent the spread of mosquito-related diseases. We’ve created a product that will apply a certain type of insect repellent that’s non-scented to clothing so that people can use it every day. We are now in the testing phase.” While creating products and designs are impres-sive; Kreshel says that the class is not just about the end result. “It’s really about the innovator,” Kreshel says. “Our end goal is to teach students this whole new mindset-the entrepreneurial mindset. It is all about the students, the learning, and the mindset. It’s all about the innova-tor and not necessarily the innovation.” Without the help of business partners, this launch pad for student innovators would not exist. Deeds is grateful for their support. “We have many business partners that believe in what CAPS is doing and they have helped us provide money for a lot of the area and the things that we bought,” Deeds says. “I would be remiss in not thanking them because without them, we can’t make any of this happen. We can’t do it on our own and we need that support.” With so much support, students and teachers are excited to see the possibilities of this space. “Now that we have this wonderful modular space, what’s next?” Kreshel says. “What can they do with it? What’s next?” It’s up to the innovators to decide.

written by MEGHAN KETCHAMphotos by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

[Photos Left to right: Seniors Karan Mehra and Tony Nguyen present their app at Demo Night. • Seniors Jeff Jacobs and Alex Koch present their model for a plane that can give disaster relief.• Seniors Aiden Haubein and Kaitlyn Kolterman present their project at Demo Night. • Junior Charlie Welsh and senior Gaby Lobo show their product, Mosqui-tobliteration to business partners and community members.Photos by Meghan Ketcham and Courtney Schutz.]

It’s all about the innovator and not necessarily the innovation.

-Scott Kreshel, Innovate Strengths Coach

[6]CAPTIVATE Features

written by ALEX SHERphoto by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

McKinzey Manes is a senior at BV West who loves Doctor Who, works at a library and is on her way to getting her Girl Scout Gold

Award. She is also trying to pass a new law. McKinzey began at the Center for Advanced Professional Studies the second semester of her junior year and took the Law and Public Safety Class. She is now in her second semester of that class and is creat-ing a personalized curriculum that compliments her strengths and passions. Currently, McKinzey is working to pass a bill through legislation that would require new drivers to have “New Driver” bumper stickers on their cars. This system is used in many areas throughout the world and New Jersey. McKinzey’s parents gave her and her sister this signage. As many teenagers would be, McKinzey’s sister, Jes-sica Jackson, was not fond of the bumper sticker. Thus, Jackson was not thrilled when she first started driving with the signage. However, McKinzey ended up find-ing it helpful, because other drivers gave her space. When McKinzey knew she had to develop a long-term project for her second semester of CAPS, her mother, Mindy Manes, suggested involving new driver bumper stickers and she got right on board. “It started with a conversation we had a few months ago,” Mindy Manes says. “I was driving with my grandpa up in Canada. I asked why people had differ-ent license plates and he explained that people with

DUIs and new drivers got special plates.” This conversation got the Manes family talking about new driver laws. They discussed what laws should be in place to help new drivers transition easily into full licenses and why it was important for such rules to be in place. “Safety on the road is really important and, when you’re new to driving, it’s impossible to react to situ-ations as well as if you’ve been driving for years,” McKinzey says. “It would be good to identify new drivers to get older drivers to back off. Also, it would be good for law enforcement, because they would be able to identify young drivers and catch those breaking restricted laws, such as curfew., which is why it was originally passed in New Jersey.” The process began with a proposal that was emailed to people who were interested. McKinzey then gave it to an advisor to find a politician who will cham-pion, or fight for her bill, if it goes through legislature. McKinzey hopes to set up a few initiatives to raise awareness. “She has been working with a liaison with the legis-lature. She’s trying to set up a focus group and meeting with an insurance person as well,” the co-Instructor of the Law and Public Safety CAPS course, Sarah Stewart, says. Stewart is continually impressed by McKinzey’s work and is excited for the future of McKinzey’s project. “McKinzey is an extremely bright student and it’s fun to watch someone go down this path of technical and law writing,” Stewart says.

Student works to pass new driver bumper sticker

Driving the Bill

[7]CAPTIVATE Opinion

Like many other CAPS students, on Aug. 16, I walked into the CAPS building for the first time as a student. However, unlike many

other students, that day marked my first day in a new school as a student since kindergarten. I am a student at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA), a Jewish day school. My junior class has 16 students and is the biggest grade in my high school. 11 of my classmates have gone to the HBHA ever since kindergarten and we endearingly call one another “lifers”. At the HBHA, I am able to learn about Judaism through Hebrew and Judaic classes and being immersed in a Jewish environment. Also, even though everyone identifies as Jewish, people at my school practice Juda-ism with all different levels of observance. The resulting melting pot creates a unique, supportive community. There are many disadvantages to attending a small school, too. The activities and courses offered are much more limited than those of BV high schools. To give us more opportunities, students at HBHA who pay district taxes are allowed to take advantage of the CAPS program. CAPS is a great addition to my education. The

program enables me to meet equally motivated students without leaving the family environment of HBHA. I can mix things up and expand my net-work without bungee jumping out of my comfort zone. In CAPS, many opportunities are available that I would not otherwise have. I get real-world experience working with business partners and have access to some equipment that is provided at public schools, but cannot be funded at my school.

For example, without CAPS, I would not be able to use certain cameras and Adobe software. Sometimes, being in CAPS and not going to a BV School is easier, because I do not always have school after CAPS due to holidays. However, it can also be stressful. On average, I miss 15 minutes of class a day because CAPS does not fit

neatly into our schedule. Also, instead of taking 4 other classes, CAPS students at my school take 6 additional courses. Not going to a Blue Valley School has given me a unique appreciation of the CAPS program. I get to engage in new experiences while learning in a business environment. All in all, CAPS rounds out my private school education nicely.

CAPS offers experiences to diverse students of the BV Community

With the new collaboration space on the second floor, students are given inspira-tion to grow their skills and projects

because of the unique, cutting-edge design. If you could not already tell by my own designs in this magazine, I am a huge fan of transparency, especially in design. One of the things that actu-ally attracted me to CAPS in the beginning was the building’s architecture and widespread use of trans-parent elements, may it be windows, walls or doors. For me, this transparency enables me to be creative and to get new ideas. The new collabora-tion spaces exemplify this design, with the intentions that it will inspire young minds to make, create, and innovate. The transparent walls and open doors make the area approachable, inviting students to work together

without barriers. The open feeling really promotes progress and can give students the confidence to try something new. The collaboration spaces also host new furniture that is actually monitored to see how students use it. Being observed for only the use of furniture may

sound weird, but it is just to see which furniture appears to be the most useful and efficient for students. I really admire this furniture in that it is not something that can be found in a normal classroom, giving these collaboration spaces a unique feel. Despite the fact that it does not feel like a classroom, I learn a lot more when I work in there. I learn about my skillset and myself as well as how those skills

can be beneficial to others. Like the cutting-edge design of this space, stu-dents will harbor a creativity that takes them to the next level in their aspirations.

Collaboration spaces boost creativity and innovation with new design

ALEX SHERReporter

MEGHAN KETCHAMEditor

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