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New project-based program ‘energizing’ students, staff
Businesses pitch real-world questions in 3DE program at Prairie, Alburnett
Dec. 2, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Dec. 2, 2024 7:38 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Prairie High School freshman Grady Sauser cold-called the owner of a warehouse in Altoona trying to find information on the cost of the building.
The 14-year-old earlier this month was researching options for how Van Meter — a wholesale electrical supply distributor headquartered in Cedar Rapids — could expand its footprint in Iowa as a part of a new project-based learning class.
Van Meter pitched the business case to the students, asking them to consider where the company should grow and if it should renovate an existing space or build new. Students are spending several weeks researching the question, learning about the business and creating a presentation to pitch to Van Meter representatives next month.
Where and how to expand operations is a real question leaders at Van Meter are considering — and the students’ ideas might just be put into practice at the company.
The case study is part of a new project-based learning program called 3DE powered by Junior Achievement. Prairie and Alburnett high schools are the first in Iowa to pilot the national learning model that prepares students for their future.
What is 3DE?
Students in 3DE programs across the nation have shown a 33 percent increase in graduation rates and a 56 percent higher rate of college enrollment, according to data from the program. There are 25 percent fewer chronically absent students compared with students not in 3DE; a 69 percent higher math proficiency; and a 67 percent higher reading proficiency, according to the program.
During their freshman and sophomore years, students in 3DE work in small group teams to research, analyze and develop solutions to a challenge presented by the business. They receive coaching, hear advice and counsel from business professionals and then present their solutions to a panel of judges from the company for review and feedback.
In their junior year, students develop their own entrepreneurial venture while continuing to get coaching from industry experts. This culminates in students presenting their business plan ideas and prototypes.
For their senior year, students work with a company to understand its needs and develop a comprehensive solution. They define benchmarks and deliverables to support the development of an action plan for the client. At the end of the session, they present their project to company leaders.
The program is only offered to freshman at Prairie and Alburnett high schools right now, but will grow by a grade level each year.
The program also will be adopted by the Cedar Rapids Community School District next fall as a part of its College & Career Pathways at Washington High School.
Building business partnerships
Nate Klein, vice president for education at Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, said students in 3DE will explore six business cases each academic year. Case partners will change year-to-year.
Businesses this year include national partners like Arby’s, Delta Air Lines and Credit Unions of America, and local partners like Van Meter and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids.
The question posed by Arby’s, for example, will ask students how the company can get more teenagers interested in eating at the fast-food chain.
The case study with Delta Air Lines will take the students to The Eastern Iowa Airport as a local partner to help them better understand what goes on behind the scenes, Klein said.
Earlier this year, Mount Mercy University’s case study asked the 3DE students what nonprofits the college’s Mercy Leadership Program — which promotes community service — could partner with. Jodee Reed, assistant professor of nursing at Mount Mercy, helped coach the students on their projects. She said she was “amazed” with the ideas students had.
“I’m used to working with college students, and I kept telling myself, ‘They’re in ninth grade,’” Reed said. “They came with fresh, innovative ideas. I learned from them. It was energizing, and I got excited about what our future holds.”
Todd Olson, president of Mount Mercy, helped judge the students’ final presentations.
“One of the things 3DE does is help high school students imagine their role and their potential in a new way,” Olson said. “What I saw was ninth-graders stepping up, learning how to position themselves as someone who has done the research and is now sharing it. They are gaining confidence and starting to imagine themselves as leaders and experts.”
3DE energies teachers
Matt Sima, who teaches 3DE at Prairie’s 9th Grade Center, said students are more engaged in 3DE this year than in any business class he’s taught previously. Sima said he’s also having more fun this year teaching than in the previous decade.
“We’re always doing something different, and I think that really helps,” Sima said. “The cool thing about 3DE is students feel a connection and value beyond school and its application to the real world.”
There are over 100 freshmen enrolled in 3DE at the 9th Grade Center and more are signing up for the class second semester, Sima said.
Emeri Hill, 14, a freshman at Prairie, said she was interested in 3DE because of how it connects the classroom to the “real world.” Emeri said she’s learning how to collaborate with her peers, do research and ask informed questions.
Brynnley Fetzer, 14, also a freshman Prairie, said 3DE is teaching her more about herself and her career interests. “I’m developing leadership skills and learning more about myself. Now I know I like public speaking and giving presentations,” she said.
At Alburnett High School, Principal Brian Morris said 3DE gives students the “why” behind what they’re learning. He’s watching students “come out of their shell and speak intelligently and passionately” about what they’re doing, he said.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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