Cache Valley’s CAPS Program Puts Students in the Driver’s Seat

Students Kylan Heiner and Brennen Barber stand ready to welcome the community to opening night

This year, for the first week of school, some high school students in Cache Valley are trading disclosure reviews for cold calls with clients, with real businesses, real stakes, and real learning happening on the spot. Welcome to the Cache Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), Cache Valley's newest educational innovation that's turning traditional business education on its head.

This fall marks the inaugural year for the CAPS center, housed at the Bridgerland campus, where high school juniors and seniors from across Cache County School District are getting hands-on experience that reads more like a college internship than a typical high school class. The program represents a significant shift from textbook learning to project-based education, where students work directly with local businesses on real challenges and opportunities using the same tools and technology found in today's workplaces.

Teacher Adam Shelton couldn't help but smile as his student checked his cold call script for the fourth time. The high schooler was about to make his very first business call; not a role-play exercise, but a real conversation with a real client about a real project.

"Nobody likes doing a cold call," Adam laughed, "but this kid was on his very first cold call in his life. So he's so nervous. It's fun to see.”

In this scenario, however, the student had Adam there to help him through the process. “When you do that and you’re hired for it, nobody’s there and there’s no teacher — so it’s nice to have someone there to double-check your script and give you the confidence that you can do it.”

It's exactly these moments that make Adam passionate about CAPS, where he serves as the business teacher. After years of classroom teaching, Adam found himself frustrated by traditional educational requirements and policies and knew he needed to find a route to provide the capstone-type experience he had envisioned for his students.

The inspiration came from visiting another CAPS facility in the Wasatch district. "To see the kids working on these real projects — the way they would explain their projects, and the depth of knowledge they had on them was more of a collegiate level than a high school level," Adam said. "When you ask somebody to apply their knowledge, the level of depth increases and passion and self learning also increase."

The program works two ways: Local businesses pitch real projects to student teams, who spend the trimester working directly with clients. Right now, students are partnering with Hyrum City's recreation director to find businesses willing to collaborate with the city's recreation department. "Today, kids were looking through a legal document and having to learn new vocabulary," Adam shared. "It's just a completely creative way of learning about some of these things."

The second track enables students to develop their own business ideas, utilizing the center's facilities for prototyping, branding, and product photography. "Some of the best success stories out of these CAPS centers are the businesses that get launched, right from high school students," Adam said excitedly

"Our kids go out there and it's basically job shadowing," he said. "That's the point of CAPS, to put a little more structure around it so that it can be an active internship instead of a job shadowing situation." Students don't just observe, they manage client relationships and learn project management — an opportunity that is specifically unique to CAPS in high school education, but a critical skill in the business environment.

The student response has been incredible. "Everybody is just so excited," Adam said. "Instantly, the students see the networking, they see the professional growth opportunities, and they see the potential to leverage this opportunity into scholarships."

Adam's vision for the future is ambitious. Next year, creative computing and engineering will join the program, with health sciences and agriculture to follow. "What I'd like to see is kids from engineering designing a product, and then business kids designing the business plan for that product," he said. "So that we become a real innovation center."

For businesses interested in partnering, Adam encourages reaching out to Amber Jardine, the workbased learning coordinator at Cache County School District. For students and parents, getting involved is as simple as enrollment. The program is fully funded with no additional costs, and it's open to juniors and seniors from all Cache County School District schools, with Box Elder joining next trimester and Logan High School planned for next year.

The nervous student making that first cold call will remember the experience forever. More importantly, they'll be better prepared for whatever professional challenges await them after graduation, whether that's college, career, or launching their own business venture.