Not every high schooler is given the opportunity to pursue courses by the way of interacting with real-world companies in a professional environment, but with Elmbrook’s own LAUNCH program beginning from the year 17-18, junior and senior students who pursue business and educational courses will be able to apply their knowledge to profession-based, real-life problems and projects provided by regional companies. In other words, LAUNCH is a unique opportunity through which students will learn academic course content by working with several companies on projects that let them gain experiences related to their course field.
According to Dr. Hall, executive director of LAUNCH, “LAUNCH is intended to add value to the student experience in Elmbrook. [LAUNCH] will foster teamwork, develop professional skills, inspire creativity and entrepreneurship, and explore careers our region desires.” In fact, Dr. Hall has met with over 130 companies and nonprofit organizations that are interested in working with Brookfield Central and East students through the LAUNCH programs. Furthermore, there are several benefits for students who decide to be enrolled in LAUNCH. For example, the program takes place in an offsite environment where students meet up with experts and mentors from a specific company in order to work collaboratively with them. As a result, students can develop great relationships with experts while companies can see for themselves what the students are capable of doing, which might lead to future career opportunities. This serves as a major competitive advantage to Elmbrook students over other students; especially since nowadays business is involved across many careers.
Mrs. Farley, BC’s associate principal claims, “We also hope to retain regional talent. Sometimes, our students go off to school and stay away from their region and major companies in our area want to keep the best talent here, and so what a great connection to families… that these companies get to know our students early on and get to see what they are capable of and maybe even create future opportunities for them… you are creating a business partnership, a connection to a business community that students wouldn’t be able to get in a traditional school.” In addition, students will easily be able to fit their LAUNCH courses into their schedule, especially since many of its courses satisfy required credits. For example, a junior might look at their schedule and see that Economics and English 11 credits are required, which can be fulfilled by courses in Global Business.
Simply put, LAUNCH offers students with different strands consisting of various project-based courses taught by some of the most talented Brookfield Central and East teachers. For instance, the 1st year consists of three strands: Global Business, Business Analytics, and Future Teachers of Elmbrook, all of which include courses that run all year. Furthermore, Global Business courses such as AP Micro and Macroeconomics, Writing for Research, and Business Strategy enable students to develop skills about business strategy. Similarly, the Business Analytics strand includes AP Statistics and Business Strategy courses, both of which teach students to interpret and analyze data. LAUNCH also added the Future Teachers strand as a way to increase interest amongst students to pursue education as a career. It covers AP Psychology and Careers in Education courses and prepares students to be talented teachers through classroom visits and etc. One of the many goals of LAUNCH is to expand its strands every year. Hence, strands addressing engineering and technology will be added in year 2, and strands based on medicine in year 3. Lastly, when asked about some of the goals of LAUNCH, Mrs. Farley said, “We really want to allow students to imagine, create, and engage in their learning and really take ownership and we find that building in the business projects allows students to do that. It’s going to allow students to extend their skills and they are going to be able to do things they never thought they would be able to do.”
Beginning Sept 1, 2017, junior and senior students can sign up for the LAUNCH program and its courses. Mrs. Farley will be conducting Friday Lancer Block sessions soon for students who want to gain more information.