When a water-treatment plant outside Denver discovered an algae problem in its pipes, it did not call an engineering firm. It called the students.
The aquatic robotics team at the Innovation Center at St. Vrain Valley Schools in Longmont, Colorado, sent underwater robots into the facility, collected data, identified the algae species and helped eradicate it. The plant now contracts with the student team for quarterly checkups. Neighboring towns have started calling, too.
This is not a simulation or a classroom exercise conjured up to look like real work. It is real work, and it reflects a broader shift underway in districts. Increasingly, schools are building career learning pathways that connect students directly with professional challenges, industry mentors and, in some cases, a paycheck.
The Case for Real Work
The urgency behind these efforts is hard to ignore. A 2023 review from the American Institutes for Research, drawing on two decades of studies, found that career and technical education participation has statistically significant positive impacts on academic achievement, high school completion, employability skills and college readiness.
The question districts are now wrestling with is not whether to offer career pathways, but whether those pathways lead anywhere real.
Policy leaders are paying attention. The Education Commission of the States has identified building aligned career pathways and removing barriers to economic opportunity as one of its top priorities through 2027.
At St. Vrain, Assistant Superintendent of Innovation Joe McBreen has spent years trying to answer that question through a program known as project teams.
After school each day, roughly 264 students log in at the district’s Innovation Center and begin work as paid district employees, billing hours against accounts for actual clients. Students can join a drone show team, a cybersecurity unit, an AI development group or a dozen other teams, rotating among them as their interests evolve.
“It’s low threat, high reward,” says McBreen. “Students get paid, grow their network, develop soft skills and test drive careers. And if they get into a team and realize it’s not for them, there’s real value in that, too.”
The model relies heavily on industry mentors who bring in real work rather than invented classroom projects. Damon Brown, a senior cybersecurity adviser for the U.S. Department of State focused on Ecuador, mentored seven St. Vrain students on a complex assignment.
He asked them to design the architecture for a cyber intelligence fusion center using open-source tools — work that could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if contracted from a professional firm.
“The students knocked it out of the park,” says Brown.
They built the system architecture, wrote user manuals, recommended equipment and conducted a threat analysis of countries surrounding Ecuador. Brown was so impressed he is now hiring six St. Vrain interns.
“This experience binds people together,” he says.
The program also has a way of growing in unexpected directions. After one student’s grandparent was victimized by a cybercrime, the cybersecurity team created an awareness curriculum for senior citizens. They taught five classes to 24 senior citizens in the first year; the second session was standing room only. Senior facilities now pay the students to come in and teach.
Meanwhile, the drone team flies commercial shows for companies across the country on Friday afternoons, billing clients at rates few drone pilots in the country can match. One former member is now studying aerospace engineering and using money from drone flying to help pay for college.
Taking the Model Out West
St. Vrain’s work has drawn attention from educators around the country, some of whom are adapting pieces of the model to fit their own communities.
Kris Hagel, chief information officer of Peninsula School District in Washington state, visited the Innovation Center and came away convinced he could build something similar.
Two years ago, Peninsula launched a paid drone internship program, starting with seven students and gradually expanding. Students work alongside industry partners while learning how to navigate FAA regulations, program autonomous flight paths and repair drones.
“When you’re willing to look at what’s cutting edge and think innovatively without being constrained by traditional systems, you can create opportunities for kids that transcend what we think of as traditional education,” says Hagel. “This program has become so much more than I thought was possible.”
The district partnered with Firefly Drone Systems, one of the few American drone manufacturers, to train students and help them operate drone shows.
The program also includes multiple roles beyond piloting, including marketing, animation design and equipment maintenance. Hagel envisions a future where students studying business management hire other students to operate the program.
A skilled drone operator who leaves high school with the capital to purchase equipment can enter a six-figure career almost immediately, says Hagel.
Finding the Problem First
Not every district is building toward robotics contracts or drone shows. For Michele Davis, CTE department chair at Metropolitan School District of Steuben County in Indiana, the real-world pathway is entrepreneurship.
Working with the StartED Up Foundation, Davis guides students through a three-year sequence: identifying an actual problem, developing a solution, building out the business model and presenting it to real audiences.
Students take “opportunity walks” around the school, documenting everyday frustrations and brainstorming solutions. They learn how to market their ideas professionally by practicing elevator pitches, presenting case studies to various audiences and explaining their ideas to elementary school students.
“Opportunities are everywhere,” says Davis.
The ideas that emerge can be surprisingly practical. One student designed a reversible outfit to solve a quick-change problem in theater productions. Another class developed a mobile trailer concept that could help unhoused people access hygiene services.
Beyond the business concepts themselves, Davis says the program focuses heavily on communication skills and confidence. “We get students comfortable doing things that are normally uncomfortable,” she says.
A Credential, Not Just a Class
At Suffern Central School District in Rockland County, New York, Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen has taken yet another approach.
Through a partnership with the League of Innovative Schools and curriculum provider Paradigm, the district launched a three-year cybersecurity certification pathway embedded directly into the high school. About 60 students are currently enrolled.
The program was designed to reach students who might not otherwise see themselves in a cybersecurity career. The district actively recruited students from immigrant communities and others who are new to the U.S.
Students work in a “sandbox” environment that simulates real cyber incidents, allowing them to practice identifying threats and responding to attacks.
“The means to send a kid to college is not as great as it was, and a lot of what we’re reading questions the importance of a college education,” says Gundersen.
Those economic realities, he says, are pushing districts to rethink how they prepare students for the workforce.
Career credentials embedded with traditional high schools can open doors for students who may not otherwise have clear pathways into high-skill industries.
Education That Looks Like Life
Across these programs, the details vary widely, but the philosophy is the same: Authentic experience is not a supplement to education. It is education.
As McBreen says, “I encourage districts to expand their vision. Anyone can do this. Start small.”
