By Janice Phelan,
June 15, 2021
Within the space of a few weeks, Jacob Danley earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in cybersecurity
from UCM and started a full-time job at Burns & McDonnell, both at age 20. Jacob is
among students participating in the Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) program, a progressive partnership that includes the 欧美视频, Lee鈥檚
Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College (MCC) and more than 50
industry-leading businesses.
All MIC program students participate in three-year, paid internships with Jacob interning
at Burns & McDonnell and AWNIX, both MIC program business partners.
A 2019 graduate of Lee鈥檚 Summit West High School, Jacob said he was pleased with his
selection of the MIC program and UCM. 鈥淭he MIC program from my local school district
is partnered with UCM to fulfill the junior/senior level college classes so the choice
was somewhat made for me, but I was very happy at UCM.鈥
A favorite part of the program for Jacob is its location at the Missouri Innovation
Campus in Lee鈥檚 Summit. Missouri Innovation Campus is the name of both the accelerated
degree program as well as UCM鈥檚 Lee鈥檚 Summit campus.
鈥淚t allowed me to stay home but attend in-person classes without having to drive for
an hour to the UCM campus,鈥 he added.
After completing the MIC program, Jacob said he would recommend UCM to others, especially
those with access to the MIC program or Missouri Innovation Campus facility in Lee鈥檚
Summit.
鈥淚t allows much more flexibility in college which was necessary since I was working
internships during most days, so my classes were at night,鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 really happy
that I made the decision to start in the MIC program and get my degree through UCM
because the teachers are really great and the financial support UCM provides its students
is amazing.鈥
Through the nationally recognized Missouri Innovation Campus program, students take
college-ready classes from UCM and MCC along with their high-school classes beginning
with their junior year of high school. Students have the opportunity to earn their
bachelor鈥檚 degree just two years after high-school graduation. In addition, they graduate
with little to no student debt, participating in three-year, year-round, paid internships
with the first two years of college tuition paid. MIC degree programs are in high-wage,
in-demand areas such as engineering, big data/business analytics and information technology.
More than 90 percent of MIC graduates are also hired by the industry-leading businesses
where they intern.