[ ]CAPTIVATETHE STUDENT MAGAZINE OF THE BLUE VALLEY CAPS COMMUNITY

Innovation Celebration 2013Ten CAPS students nominated for Innovator of the Year...pages 4-11

April 2013 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 7501 W. 149TH TERRACE, OVERLAND PARK, KAN. 66223

[2] CAPTIVATE Photos

A Day in CAPS

CAPS students spend their days having unique experiences only found outside of

the classroomPhotos by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

& MR. KESSLERDesign by MEGHAN KETCHAM

Captions from Top Left Clockwise: Senior Madison Kupchin takes a blood typing test in the Foudations of Medicine class. • Senior Meryl Engel poses for a photo with a snake that she captured in Doniphan County, Kan. with the Bioscience class on a herpetological trip. • Junior Alex Sher takes video for her iMedia class at Take Five Coffee House for 435 South Segment, Compliments of the Chef. • Junior Conner Russo uses the simulator in his Aerospace Engineering class to test out pilot view in the King Air Simulator. • Luke Wells, Chris Moore and Luke Zahner adjust the mechanisms in their robot that shoots frisbees through a small target. •

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) describes it mission as “advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship.”

CAPS does similar work; it considers itself “an ex-ample of how industry and our educational system can work together to produce personalized learning experiences that prepare the next generation of pro-fessionals for 21st century opportunities,” (bvcaps.org). The NBIA is all about incubation and CAPS focuses on utilizing the “Innovation Generation.” This is CAPS’ third year as a part of the NBIA organization that connects over 1,900 members from over 60 countries. Members share in top inno-vation ideas and techniques throughout the world. They also have the opportunity to participate in conferences and trainings to strengthen worldwide innovation and advance research. The NBIA is con-stantly on the cutting edge of incubation and does all it can to encourage and support its members in doing the same. One version of encouragement is the annu-al NBIA Incubation Awards, which recognizes members that have gone above and beyond. There are eight categories in the award, which focus on individuals, networks, and programs. Two finalists are announced from each category and the winner for each section is announced at the Annual Inter-national Conference on Business Incubation. This year, CAPS was nominated for the Incubator Innovation Award which provides entrepreneurs with unique opportunities. According to the NBIA’s website (nbia.org), CAPS fulfilled the manpower needs of local busi-nesses while providing high school students with an outlet for their various interests. “To address both needs, the school district partnered with industry and entrepreneurship experts, as well as the community, to create the Center for Advanced Professional Studies to provide students with a unique, immersive educational experience resulting

in highly skilled, adaptable innovators.” Not many NBIA members represent K-12 educational programs and CAPS is the only finalist to recognize a program that works with such young innovators. “Typically, people in this association are university level or beyond,” Executive Director Donna Deeds says. “It’s unique that we’re doing some of the same work with students in high school that people around the world are doing with college students.” The award placed CAPS in the public eye, the Superintendent of the Blue Valley School District, Dr. Tom Trigg, sent out the press release to the Governor of Kansas, who has an interest in CAPS and economic development. In response, Susan Metsker, Congressman Kevin Yoder’s secretary, sent CAPS an enthusiastic congratulatory email. “The Board of Education is thrilled about CAPS’ nomination,” says Tony Thill, Blue Valley Board of Education president. “This nomination is validation of the innovative educational experience our com-munity desires for students in Blue Valley.” Deeds agreed with this statement. “This is a con-firmation that we’re on the cutting age,” Deeds says. “It is supporting the idea that high schoolers can succeed in the business world, despite their age. It is showing that people around the world are in awe of the idea and would like to mimic it in their own communities.” The other semi-finalist is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority which has started a Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program to ensure smooth start-ups of clean energy companies throughout New York. At a conference in April 9 in Boston, in front of over 800 people, CAPS won the award. . The same day, CAPS figures also lead a discussion on Devel-oping Youth Entrepreneurs with the staff at Seda Mandela Bay ICT Incubator from South Africa. The exposure to innovators around the world helps

inspire others and helps these organi-zations become more worldly. Winning this award has reinforced CAPS’ success and will hopefully inspire CAPS to continue innovating and providing the best business op-portunities for high school students. CAPS Director Chad Ralston and Innovate Class Instructor Scott Kreshel eagerly read material during the 2012 NBIA Internation Conference of Business

[3]CAPTIVATE News

CAPS Awarded For Its Unique Work with High School Students

Written by ALEX SHER Photos Courtesy of: NBIA

[4] CAPTIVATE Innovation

April 25 will bring the Center for Ad-vanced Professional Studies’ most antic-ipated event of the year, the Innovation

Celebration. It is extremely student-driven; students made the invitations, this magazine, the logo, the technology, the budget and the plans to make this event possible. However, the students would not get anything completed without some outside assistance. Samantha Hammontree, the President of Sterling Incor-porated, has provided that help for this year’s and last year’s Innovation Celebration. She has supported students in every aspect of planning the Innovation Cele-bration. For example, she secured this year’s speaker, spon-sored the Innovation Celebration and provided support for the students involved in planning the event. Last year, Hammontree was highly involved in the planning process of the Innovation Cel-ebration. By contrast, she avoided design roles this year and pushing the event into being more student-ran. She imagines an even better event that is the brainchild of CAPS students. “From early on, I had the vision of creat-ing something the students could own,” says Hammontree. Hammontree’s two children are enrolled in Blue Valley elementary schools; supporting the Blue Valley District is extremely important to Hammontree. She knows that there is no guarantee money will continue to come from grants and community dollars and wants to do her part to ensure the success of the district and the CAPS program. Not only does Hammontree desire to pro-vide a foundation for the future, she hopes to inspire current high school students as well. She believes that today directly affects the future and wants to instill a sense of responsibility in

current CAPS students to encourage them to give back to their communities for years. “I feel like it’s my small part that I can do to ensure the program is still here in six years,” Hammontree says. “Each of us can do small things; this is one of my small efforts.”

Although unsure of her involve-ment in the future, Hammontree has a clear vision for future Innovation Celebrations. She imagines more stu-dent involvement, more sponsors and

more money. To increase student involvement in the event, Hammontree envisions every CAPS class con-tributing to the event. In her opinion, the CAPS students should feel perwsonal responsibility and ownership for the Innovation Celebration. Just like any successful fundraiser, the Innova-tion Celebration must reach many people and raise as much money as possible. Despite all of the potential the event has for improvement in the future, Hammontree is enthusiastic about this year’s event. She will be pleases with her efforts if she inspires just one person in the audience to make a difference. The facilitator of the event, Laura Harsch, had nothing but nice words about Hammon-tree. “She is an exceptional role model, leader and mentor who is paying it forward by provid-ing this outstanding opportunity for students,” Harsch says. “She is a leader in the community and her philanthropic spirit is at the core of this event.”

Written by ALEX SHERPhoto Courtesy of SAMANTHA

HAMMONTREE

Sponsoring a Celebration:Samantha

Hammontree

“I feel like it’s my small part that I can do to ensure the program is still here in six years. Each of us can do small things, this is one of my small efforts.”-Samantha Hammontree

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[5]CAPTIVATE Innovation

Towards the end of each year, the Center for Advanced Professional Studies holds a celebration in honor of all of the ideas

generated by future great thinkers. However, these young thinkers are still eagerly learning the secrets of problem solving. To shed some light on the subject, keynote speaker Robb Heineman will give his worldly advice and business experience to future innovators at the Innovation Celebration on April 25. Robb Heineman was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and graduated with a B.B.A in finance from the University of Notre Dame. He started his career with sports in 1992 as an owner/operator of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, a team that is a part of the NBA Developmental League. However, his big break and greatest ac-complishment, so far, was taking over Sporting Kansas City and successfully turning the sports development model around. In 2006, Heineman became the CEO of Sporting Kansas City. He has worked strenu-ously with several local municipalities to get a soccer stadium built for his new team to play in. In 2010, this dream became reality when the Kansas Board of Commissioners approved the plan for the new sports park. With the approval, Heineman set out to bring the biggest names from across the globe to help sponsor the new sport team. He formed part-nerships with corporations such as Panasonic, Sprint, Cisco and Google. With these partner-ships, the Sporting Kansas City Sports Park has been able to serve as a lab for new innovations

in sports and entertainment technologies. His accomplishments on the new Sporting Kansas City stadium have won him many pres-tigious awards. He has received the Home Run Deal award winner by the Certified Commercial Investment Members of Kansas City, The Stadi-um Business Awards Executive of the Year and the Distinguished Marketing Executive Award from The American Marketing Association. In addition to all of his work innovating Sport-ing Kansas City, Heineman holds several other positions with various companies. He serves as an Advisor at Rock Island Capital LLC, Presi-dent of Trails Properties II, Inc., Chief Executive Officer of OnGoal, LLC and Managing Director at Hall Brothers Holding. What Heineman accredits most for his success, is his use of social media, including his Twitter account, @RobbHeineman, to commu-nicate openly with fans. To further supplement his communications with the fans, he created the Sporting Club’s membership website, sport-ingmembership.com, which allows for bonuses including reserved complementary tickets given to each fan per season, rewards for interactions on the website and the ability to make new con-nections with other Sporting Club Members. It seems to be Heineman is on the way to becoming one of the greatest new innovators in the wake of the 21st century. Allowing the great new minds of the CAPS program a chance to learn and follow in the greatest that Heineman has brought to the world of innovation.

Robb Heineman:Innovation Celebration Keynote Speaker sheds light on problem solvingWritten by MITCHELL BIRD Photo by ALEX SHER

[6] CAPTIVATE Innovation

CAPS is full of bright, talented students. They work with the newest tech-nology, learn the ins and outs of various businesses and get experience in the real professional world. Every year, CAPS honors ten of its most

creative students and designates them as Innovator of the Year Finalists. The Innovator of the Year Award honors a student who demonstrates exceedingly unique and creative work at CAPS. It strives to cultivate and support new ideas and young thinkers. The winner is announced at the Annual Innovation Cel-ebration, which will be held on April 25. Take a moment to learn more about each of the inventive nominees. The nominees are as follows:

Innovation Celebration 2013

Human Services:*Danielle Stoops*Paige Sims

Business, Technology, & Media:*Trey Fletcher*Cade Rutledge

Engineering:*Alex Koch*Ashton Love

Bioscience*Muriel Eaton*Dylan Geick

Innovate/Accelerator*Gaby Lobo*Alex Simmons

[7]CAPTIVATE Innovation

Danielle Stoops

Paige Sims

It’s all about technology to senior Danielle Stoops. With a computer programmer as a father and a software consultant as a mother, computers have

always been a big part of her life. This past year, she participated in the CAPS 2020 Instructor class, which is dedicated to finding innovative way to improve education. Stoops has focused on connecting popular technology devices to learning. As a part of her class, she and her fellow students recently presented at the Greenbush Technology con-vention, an annual conference that allows students to present a project to a panel of judges. Stoops and her team demonstrated the use of smart phones, iPads and tablets in the classroom. She also currently works on a project with the Human Systems Dynamic Insti-tute, helping teenagers to make better connections in their everyday life. Stoops credits her CAPS Instructor 2020 class with helping her overcome her fear of speaking in front of others. “I had to be confident in front of the students and teacher of each class I observed, or I would never

have their attention and respect,” Stoops says. She has gained newfound confi-dence and attention. Now, when she monitors classes in the district, many teachers believe she is in college and not a high school student. Stoops plans to use her love of technology in her future career at Missouri State University. She hopes to design educational games for devices that will make learning entertaining for students. Just like her parents taught her to embrace technology, she hopes to create games for the next generation so they will have fun while they learn.

Written by ALYSSA HEMPHILL Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

A girl with a passion for sports and helping others, Paige Sims decided to combine her two strengths to create a non-profit organi-

zation that would help the world. At the young age of 14, Sims began FIT(Females in Training) for Success to empower young girls through sports to make a positive impact on other girls. Sims formed this or-ganization in hopes of helping other girls to grow in a positive, healthy way through community sporting events and summer camps.“My organization’s main objectives are to aid social skills development, teach healthy living habits and bring attention to the effect of young girls’ activity levels on breast cancer prevention,” Sims says.With her enrollment in CAPS, Sims found a com-munity of resources to help in her dream to make a positive impact on young girls. In CAPS sports med-icine, Sims utilized the opportunities given to her to help her develop her organization. In the class, Sims has completed internships, learned athletic training techniques and worked alongside professionals to build her dream.Next fall, Sims will attend the University of Alabama to major in Exercise Science and minor in business.

With her CAPS experience and her university education, Sims hopes to grow her organization.“I plan to own my own clinic while spreading FIT for Success across the globe,” Sims says. “On top of this , I would eventually like to be-come a team physical therapist for a USA Olympic team.”With a bright future, Sims thanks those who have aided in her success.“CAPS has provided me with opportunities and re-sources that have made my organization come to life,” Sims says. “Being able to work with other students that are passionate about what they do has motivated me to set high goals. I am honored to be nominated for this award.”

Written by MEGHAN KETCHAM Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

*Human Services Strand Nominee

*Human Services Strand Nominee

[8] CAPTIVATE Innovation

Trey Fletcher

Cade Rutledge

For senior Trey Fletcher, dedication and hard work are not to be taken lightly. With parents who built their own business from the ground

up, Fletcher knows the kind of commitment required for success and hopes to make his own business by developing wireless earphones. Fletcher credits CAPS for his opportunity to have a head start on his project and for allowing him the freedom to be imaginative. Last semester, he worked on an Android application that allows parents to provide incentives for their children if they do their chores. Currently, Fletcher works on a website for LS Credentialing Services and makes improvements to his personal project, WISPR, which stands for Wireless In-ear Sound Piece Receiver. He hopes to create his own headphone company. “I wants to deliver a fresh new product that will rock the headphone world,” Fletcher says. Fletcher was first inspired to create WISPR in a game of basketball while shooting free throws and

his headphones kept falling out when the cord moved. He hopes this new product will offer a premium sound quality and be more convenient for everyone. Fletcher first learned online about CAPS while he was living in Texas. Knowing about the great opportu-nities offered through CAPS, he was excited when he found out he was moving to Overland Park. He plans to return to Texas next fall as freshman at Texas State University and major in business. Fletcher’s growing headphone business proves that persistence and drive do lead to success.

Written by ALYSSA HEMPHILL Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

*Business, Technology, & Media Strand Nominee

After the harsh winter, Cade Rutledge, is ready to share his photographs from the season. Rutledge is involved in the Inter-

active Design class at CAPS and also finds time to kindle his talent for photography in nature.“I guess you could say nature is my muse,” Rutledge says. “I moved to Leawood in sixth grade from Tex-as. Although I never realized it when I lived there, I love to take pictures of the arid Texas landscapes. Most people think living in Kansas doesn’t make for good pictures, but I get most of mine in the winter here. Ice and snow make for some of my favorites, even though I don’t like walking in it.”In fact, his sales in photography are part of the rea-son Rutledge has become a nominee for Innovator of the Year. Rutledge donates all of the money he makes from these photographs to the Boys and Girls Club in Kansas City.“I chose to donate all the money that I make from selling the photographs to Boys and Girls Clubs of Kansas City because I have volunteered with boys in a local scout group,” Rutledge says. “I was

responsible to lead and provide guidance for an inner city troop. The kids down-town really need the help that the clubs provide and a safe environment for kids to go.”Rutledge plans on continuing photography and graphic design through college and taking the lessons he learned from his CAPS classes with him. After all, he joined it be-cause of his original desire to become experienced in the real world.“I became interested in CAPS when I learned about its real world experience,” Rutledge says.

Written by EMILY MOORE Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

*Business, Technology, & Media Strand Nominee

[9]CAPTIVATE Innovation

Alex Koch

Ashton Love

Ever since he was a young boy, Alex Koch was interested in the world around him. He liked building, sketching everything in sight and

learning how things are put together. Koch was a cu-rious child, but was especially intrigued in flight and aviation. Naturally, the CAPS Aerospace Engineering Class was a great fit for him, allowing him to com-bine his interests in engineering and aviation. During the fall semester, the aerospace engineer-ing class focused on entrepreneurship skills and fundamentals of aerospace engineering. They also spend time flying model airplanes of various designs. Towards the end of the semester, Koch worked on more complicated projects and focused on mapping out a balsa wood plane called Legion Drone. “Alex has been working on a remotely operated drone that is capable of transmitting live video from the air to a ground operator station,” Koch’s teacher, Trevor Sutcliffe says. “This system will be set up to al-low for first responders in natural disasters to be able to survey the damage from above quickly in an effort to expedite the logistics of providing help to victims.” This is the first time drone aircrafts have ever been used to communicate in such a way. Koch’s motivation and networking skills have allowed him

to implement his innovative ideas. Currently orga-nizing the supplies he will need to bring his plane into ac-tuality, Koch plans to begin building it soon. To learn more about the build-ing process, Koch has been putting together planes like children put puzzles together. “I’ve learned a lot about the principles of aviation through this class. I’m also not just learning about it but applying it.” Koch plans to study aerospace engineering at Uni-versity of Kansas next year. He has been talking to the Associate Professor of the Aerospace Engineering faculty at KU, Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, and is extreme-ly excited for the future.

Written by ALEX SHER Photo by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

*Engineering Strand Nominee

Over time, the phrase “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything” has become a cliché. Despite cliché status, the phrase is

exceedingly true for Ashton Love, a CAPS student enrolled in the robotics program. He has done significant work on a robot that has the ability to climb up a pyramid using a special hook design enabling it to climb at a breathtaking speed. This was in preparation for a competition where different groups brought robots to accomplish tasks such as climbing a giant pyramid and throwing Frisbees accurately into narrow spaces. Love’s teacher, Dan Ritter, glowingly described Love’s work habits on the project. “He worked probably an excess of eighty hours a week for six weeks on this,” Ritter says. “It was a tremendous thing. Along with some engineering mentors, he demonstrated great insight and great intellect.” After the hours of hard work and the amazing results that came from this project, Love was still pleasantly surprised at the news of his nomination.

“I was overjoyed to find out that my contribution to the team would be recognized,” Love says. “It was a complete shock to me and I was very grateful to my mentors in the robotics team.” Next year, Love will attend Kansas-State University on full scholarship. With hard work and dedication, Love has shown that he is capable of great things and is well on his way to becoming a great innovator in his future.

Written by MITCHELL BIRD Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

*Engineering Strand Nominee

[10] CAPTIVATE Innovation

Muriel Eaton

Dylan Geick

Muriel Eaton is currently a junior, but is working as if she has already landed be-come involved in the professional world.

Muriel Eaton took the CAPS Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering class first semester and currently takes the Bioscience Internship/Research class. With the guidance of Bioscience Instructors, Eric Kessler and Joe Whalen, she was able to go to lectures, conferences and tour labs. Eventually, she was introduced to the curator of the Fungal Genetics Stock Center, who happened to be searching for high school students interested in doing research. Muriel Eaton seized this opportunity and was accepted. “Since winter break, we have been genetically mapping alleles in a gene in a common fungus,” Muriel Eaton says. CAPS has provided Muriel Eaton with the rare opportunity of being a biochemist as a high school student. She plans to use her experience towards receiving a PhD in microbiology or biochemistry. Biochemistry appeals to Muriel Eaton because it provides her with an opportunity to help others. She recently received her Gold Scout Award by getting children excited about science.

“I developed individual curriculums with hands-on activities for the kids,” Muriel Eaton says. “Every Tuesday for the past five years I have been training and mentoring cadets ages 12-21 with the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary of the Air Force. Our mission is to provide aerospace education, emergency services, and cadet programs to the community.”Muriel Eaton is passionate about helping others and discovering the secrets of genetics. CAPS equips her with the opportunities she needs to excel in her interests.

Written by MORGAN MOBLEY Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

*Bioscience Strand Nominee

Dylan Geick seems to have life figured out between his Molecular Medicine and Bio-engineering class at CAPS. Geick is full of

ideas for projects that can be adapted to help people in the future, ranging from studies of mammali-an cell cultures to islet cells and tumor research. Geick developed many different skills in these fields through CAPS classes in order to better himself and become prepared for the future. “I became interested in CAPS when I first came and saw the CAPS building through my health class and saw the superior technology and capability to perform at a level above that of a normal high school student,” Geick says. “CAPS appealed to me because I knew I was capable of a higher level of work than I was achieving in the classroom and CAPS has given me the ability not only to make myself stand out by the things I do and also allowed me to prepare myself for my professional career beyond this.” Geick also plans to continue pursuing his interest in biomedical sciences and medicine, through col-lege at Baker University. “In the future I am going to continue to develop

all these skills I have begun developing at Baker Universi-ty,” Geick says. “I will be going through the Pre-med program at Baker Univer-sity and follow in my uncle’s footsteps and go to med school thereafter.” However, Geick has hopes beyond just the medical field. In fact, Geick hopes to be a role model for others through his actions. “I try to inspire others with the things that I do every day by setting examples for them to see,” Geick says.

*Bioscience Strand Nominee

Written by EMILY MOORE Photo by KYLIE FEUERBORN

[11]CAPTIVATE Innovation

Alex Simmons

Gaby Lobo

From being interested in engineering to being active in community service through Girl Scouts, Gaby Lobo is a hands-on kind of girl.

She is constantly full of ideas and was able to use CAPS’ resources to take her ideas to actuality. “What I realized after starting the class was that it was so much more than just an engineering class; I was able to explore my area of interest and take an idea to a real product,” Lobo says. And she has certainly been taking advantage of this opportunity; working on multiple projects to truly make a difference. However, her main project is her insect repellent called the Pest Deflector. Lobo’s distaste for mosquitos sparked the cre-ation of the Pest Deflector. The more research Lobo did on mosquitos, the more she realized mosquitos are a global problem. With the help of bioscience students, she created a working model of the Pest Deflector, which she describes as “a dryer sheet infused with a natural repellent and insecticide derived from Chrysanthemum flowers.” She took the product from ideation to design to testing and currently has a patent pending. “This product is unlike any product currently on

the market because it is a much more convenient way of repelling mosqui-toes as it treats the clothing in one easy step, and it also has the benefit of being odorless once dry,” Lobo says. The Pest De-flector will go on the market once its business plan finalizes. Lobo has various interested investors and is excited for her product to go to the public. She is She has excelled with her dedication, creativity and confidence and will only continue to do so as she continues on to Kansas State University to study Industrial Engineering.

*Innovate Accelerator Nominee

Written by ALEX SHER Photo by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

Alex Simmons is a man with a dream-a dream of a safer police force to help do their jobs more efficiently to help protect

the public to a greater extent. CAPS nominated Simmons is being nominated for Innovator of the Year with his work on black badge technology, which is technology focused around helping police officers increase the safety of their line of work. “We’re working on police pursuits at the moment and how we can wirelessly shut down vehicles if they’re stolen,” Simmons says. “With this you can track them and shut them down by using something called Shadow tracking.” Shadow tracking would allow for Alex’s tech-nology to use GPS technology to find the car that the police would need to be shut down. This is the core of what makes the program successful and life saving. “A person dies every day due to police pursuits, so this will save countless lives and our company is dedicated to all Law Enforcement safety issues so making the police safer in general,” Simmons says. The project has gone far, and Simmons reported that he has applied for seed money from the CAPS board. This would allow him to move forward to

the next stage of prototyping to begin construc-tion and market-ing of his new product. Simmons was surprised when he found out about his nomi-nation. “Honestly I didn’t even know it was happening, I just got an email saying that I got nominated, but I was very excited though,” he says. This project has influenced one of his plans for the future, which is going to UMKC to pursuit a degree in entrepreneurship, after finishing the production of his idea.

*Innovate Accelerator Nominee

Written by MITCHELL BIRD Photo by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

[12] CAPTIVATE Features

On the first day of class, the CAPS Interactive Design students received a challenge: raise at least $100 for any nonprofit. The students

either made their own services and products or received them from organizations they contacted. They were responsible for networking and designing all marketing and collateral around the fundraiser and documented the entire process. The teenagers ran with the project; multiple groups raised over twice the mandatory amount. The Interactive Design Instructor, Leah Karchin, believes that CAPS is strong because of the dona-tions it receives from the community. “We are only thriving because our community is strong,” Karchin says. “Thus, we have a responsibility to ensure our community maintains its strength.” Karchin believes that people should use their tal-ents to help others. “Being a designer is like having a superpower; learning to use your superpowers for good is extremely important,” Karchin says. In order to give back and fulfill the assignment requirements, Interactive Design students have been pursuing a wide variety of projects. One of the student groups, Domenick Adinolfi and Austin Jacobson, held a Wing Eating Contest at BV West on April 5. The $225.51 they raised supported the Global Orphan Project. “I was talking to Austin and he knew somebody from the Global Orphan Project, but didn’t know how how he wanted to raise money,” Adinolfi says. “I guess I was hungry at the time; all I could think off was a wing eating contest because it would be fun and interactive.” The two decided to combine Jacobson’s connec-tions and Adinolfi’s ideas. After an initial discus-sion with Global Orphan Project, the organization was extremely enthusiastic about their drive and creativity. After long hours of planning, the pair was pleased with their efforts. “You put all of the time into it and it’s rewarding because you’re doing it for orphans,” Jacobson says. The Global Orphan Project loved the excitement high school students had for their cause; they hope to team up with CAPS in future fundraisers. Alyssa Napaisan and Anna Hickok, seniors at BV Northwest and Southwest respectively have been beading and selling bracelets, giving the profits to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Hickok faces Type 1 Diabetes and loves mak-ing bracelets. She used bracelet making to help others fighting the same disease she does. The girls not only put their passions to good

use, but also chal-lenged themselves to communicate with people they normal-ly would not. They have cer-tainly succeeded at making connections; they have raised over $360. And they certainly have no in-tentions of stopping, their bracelets, called “Diabeads”, can be purchased from Hickok at annahickok95@gmail.com. Overall, the girls took the lesson to heart with a new inspiration of helping others and the confi-dence to do so. “I’ve learned that, if you want to achieve some-thing, you have to go out and do it,” Napaisan says. “If you don’t take action, nothing will change.” Interactive Design students took many different paths to raise support for non-profits. Game nights and food drives were planned. T-shirts, water bottles and Green Lantern Car Wash tickets have been sold. Organizations including Music Saves Lives and To Write Love on Her Arms have benefited. Students did everything from bake sales called Desserts for Down Syndrome to a Party Bus for the Born this Way Foundation. They worked hard to make a variety of great projects.“I love watching the kids become passionate about not just a cause, but creating a successful campaign that they are invested in,” Karchin says. She thrives from the friendly competition that fuels the students and the motivation they have for utiliz-ing their passions for helping others. Left: Contestants scarf down wings in support of the Global Orphan Project. BV West students donated money to their peer contestants as they eat the wings.Top: A dazzling blue “Diabeads” bracelet. Far Top: Water Bottles sold for The Water Project.

Designing a Better World Written by: ALEX SHER Pictures Courtesy of: INTERACTIVE DESIGN STUDENTS

[13]CAPTIVATE Features

Q:What is your job? J: I’m a systems analyst I manage all the comput-ers and networks in the building, software and hardware budgeting and ordering, deal with data issues or help desk related issues like printers, our biggest issues. B: Part time Support. I just assist Josh in whatev-er trouble tickets or computer problems he has.

Q: What do you like about CAPS? J: The highlight of the day is whenever students bring me cookies. As far as my job position, I manage my time. I’m not micromanaged; I get jobs done when I need them to get done versus waiting on other people to fulfill other things. I really like the freedom to complete my tasks and the technology I get to work with. A lot of peo-ple use software that forces me to grow or use my knowledge to gain information to support them. B: It’s not very labor intensive, and the people here are pretty cool. It’s easy to work with most of the teachers and I get along with them.

Q: What does your average day look like? J: First, I work on server management for the master cam, ArcGIS, the software program in the building. Then I administer CAPS’ website, bvcaps.org. I upload videos to caps.eduvision.tv so they can be imported onto the website. I then read things about which printers don’t work and then have to go in and figure out to resolve those issues. B: I spend a lot of time with heat tickets. Some-body will put in a request and then I have to go figure out what is wrong with the computer.

Q: What is the most frustrating or weirdest thing that has ever happened to you? J: Once, somebody had managed to put a whole pencil broken into pieces into the CD tray of a computer and as I turned the computer upside down and shook it, I found a snack pack of Dor-itos in the computer. B: Printers are definitely the most frustrating thing I deal with. Other than that, it’s probably the WiFi. I’m sure that everyone has seen this once or twice: the computer says there is no log-in on servers or it doesn’t allow anyone to log on. That gets really frustrating. Usually, however, I just deal with a broken computer, which can have its own set of annoyances.

Q: What is unique about interacting with students?J: No idea. There is nothing specific I like about interacting with the students. There are kids that somewhat understand computers, which I talk to about different sides of computers. When I am fixing broken computers for people who do not understand them as well, we engage in general conversation. I have talked to some of the kids in the digital electronics class about programming. Generally speaking, there is nothing specific I like about interacting with students, interacting with people is the same regardless of age.B: I do not know so much about interacting with students; what is interesting is their projects. I love talking with Dan’s kids about robots they build or helping the aerospace students set up their simulator, so I can play video games on it, just kidding.

CAPS&AQ

Questions and Answers with Josh Hooper and Ben Rau, CAPS information technology support team

Written by MITCHELL BIRDPhoto by COURTNEY SCHUTZ

CAPS students receive extensive training and experience, work with real business partners and complete professional-level

projects. They study in scientific research in labs equal to those in colleges and beyond. They create building models with the same materials architects use and work alongside businessmen who have been in their field for years. CAPS is a place where, “Students learn the professional skills necessary to succeed in today’s fast-paced world, all before entering college or other post-secondary educational opportunities. CAPS is all about students solving real problems, with real tools (used by real professionals), being men-tored by real employers, leading to real contribu-tion,” (bvcaps.org). I love the CAPS envi-ronment and would love to enjoy it in multiple fields. Creating CAPS “Ma-jors” and “Minors” would give me the opportunity to do just that. CAPS is currently limited in the fact that it allows students to only study one topic per semester. Giving students the opportunity to choose multiple areas of study, having one area be the “Major” and allotting it more time than the other subject, the “minor” would only improve the CAPS program. Maybe one or two days a week, students could spend 45 minutes in their “minor” class. This would allow CAPS students to par-ticipate in a wide range of activities and also put CAPS farther along in the growing interdisciplin-ary spectrum. The “real world” is evolving and interdisciplin-ary skills are marketable and useful. “Interdis-ciplinary” programs are becoming increasingly popular in colleges and universities. In the current competitive job market, the ability to combine various fields and a widespread knowl-edge base puts applicants a step above the rest. Majors and minors would educate students about multiple fields and help them increase their marketability. This adjustment would also allow students to

test out multiple interests. Currently, students have to commit to a certain topic for an entire se-mester, which can be daunting. 11.5 hours a week for a full semester in one single field is a huge time commitment and certain students may be curious about various fields. Having majors and minors allows a student to fully explore his or her interests and personalizes the experience. A program like this would be beneficial to many students, including myself. I have a strong interest in journalism, but am also intrigued by the field of engineering because of my love for math. Having the opportunity to take classes in multiple strands would allow me to discov-er more about my own interests. It would also potentially help me find a means to combine my

two interests. I am not alone, as many students’ interests do not fit into just one CAPS class. CAPS currently provides a lot of room for specific interests; students work on a wide variety of projects within each class. It also allows for different strands to work together via the ac-celerator. However, allowing

students to get involved in multiple classes would push students to excel in multiple areas and result in exponentially more collaborative work. This would lead to more in-depth innovation and students discovering untapped strengths. These new unique talents would only enrich the “major” classes further. While slightly less time would be spent in these groups, the time students did have together would be enhanced by the students’ knowledge in other fields. The broader range of skills would fill the main classes with innovative ideas and projects. CAPS is currently a fantastic professional studies program that allows students to succeed in a career path of their choice. Providing the option of majors and minors would give CAPS students more space to find their niche and excel at what they love to do. It would allow CAPS to grow even more in the world of innovation.

ALEX SHERPage Editor

[14]CAPTIVATE Opinion

Majors & MinorsPage Editor Alex Sher wishes to expand her CAPS experience

MEGHAN KETCHAMChief Editor

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.

Chief Editor:Meghan Ketcham

Page Editors:Emily MooreAlex Sher

Adviser: Bruce McRoberts

Staff Members:Mitchell BirdAlyssa HemphillMorgan Mobley

Photographers:Kylie FeuerbornCourtney Schutz

[15]

In just a few weeks, I will walk down the aisles of Kemper Arena to accept my diploma from BV West. Although ultimately, my diploma

will come from BV West, I will have graduation cords from CAPS around my neck to remind me of my experience in the CAPS building and in the iMedia class. While all of us are graduating from different schools and will graduate at different days and times, we will all have these cords around our necks, binding us together and reminding us of our special memories in the CAPS program. I am a bit sad that I did not get to meet many of the other students, but to those that I did, I am ex-tremely lucky to have had the opportunity. I believe that many of these CAPS students are the future in-novators of America, and that some real changes and wonderful ideas will come from them. It has been incredible to know these students, and to network and grow together to build a professional image for ourselves. In addition, it has been a privilege to be in Mr. McRoberts’ iMedia class with all of the eccentric and fun journalism students. I am happy to have a video background now to add to my experience, and I know that the skills I learned in this class will help me in my future. I am very grateful to Mr. McRoberts for putting up with press deadlines and for giving me the opportunity to take this won-derful class. I would like to personally thank Alex Sher for standing in for me when I could not be in class and for being so enthusiastic in helping others to write and edit their stories. I would also like to thank Emily Moore for designing a few pages, and I am excited to see how she finds her own CAPS

experience to be next year. Thank you to Morgan, Mitch, Courtney, Kylie and Alyssa as well for contributing to the magazine! Last, I would like to thank Donna Deeds, Chad Ralston and everyone else who has supported Captivate in the past year. We cannot print sixteen pages without all of you. With my CAPS cords, I know that my experi-ences will help me throughout the rest of my life. Next year, I will be a student at the University of

Kansas and have been accepted at the William Allen White School of Journalism as a freshman. I hope to work internationally, and I plan on studying abroad. While CAPS can be difficult and challenging at times, it was ultimately a wonderful learning experience for me. Being the editor of this magazine not only gave me something unique to place on my resume, but also gave me the experience of man-

aging another publication. I had the ability to work with many great people and to meet incredible CAPS alumni, students, and mentors. Although I could not have spent as much time in the CAPS building as I had wanted, I really appreciate the experience and am excited to see where it leads me. I wish for my final words of my farewell to not be my own, but to be from a quote that inspires me daily to make my work and my life filled with quality and value. “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to be a man of value.” -Albert Einstein So with that, I bid you farewell and hope that we can all become men(and women) of value not only in the CAPS program, but in the world.

It’s Been a PrivilegeCaptivate Chief Editor gives her farewell to the CAPS program

-Meghan KetchamCaptivate Chief Editor

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