Waukee Innovation and Learning Center

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Waukee Innovation and Learning Center The Waukee Innovation & Learning Center houses students from both Waukee CSD high schools.

Follow for highlights from APEX, school-to-work, CTE, and career services — and see how real-world learning helps students lead, grow, and thrive.

Love this writeup from Tyler. You can hear his passion about his APEX Automotive team:In APEX Automotive, we explore car...
10/09/2026

Love this writeup from Tyler. You can hear his passion about his APEX Automotive team:

In APEX Automotive, we explore careers all across the automotive and transportation industry. While most people think of mechanics when they think of automotive careers, there are a lot of other high-demand careers in the industry. Throughout the semester, we'll job shadow, interview, and tour with collision and autobody, diesel, ag and heavy equipment, small engines and power sports, freight and material handling, and more.

Recently, our APEX Automotive teams had the opportunity to visit Paragon Performance, an aftermarket and performance shop that specializes in C8 Corvettes.

We heard about the sales, marketing, finance, and distribution side of their business, then we toured their shop.

The highlight of the trip was watching them dyno a 2027 C8 Corvette Grand Sport with aftermarket exhaust headers and catalytic converters. We learned about the value that the dyno brings to their business including the ability to do third party testing and getting early access to specialty aftermarket parts.

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Thanks for the photos and the writeup, Tyler!

10/08/2026

Dr. Crozier visited the Intro to Education class at the WILC this week. He spoke about his career path in education - from his first job all the way to Superintendent here at Waukee Community School District.

Students in Intro to Education learn the foundations of education that will be built upon over the rest of their schooling.

Good morning from another WILC WorX session! 🤝Today, Carrie and Amber discussed what we share on social media and how em...
10/07/2026

Good morning from another WILC WorX session! 🤝

Today, Carrie and Amber discussed what we share on social media and how employers see that information. We use these pseudo-scenarios to talk through "What would you do?" in these situations. Shout out to our student-associates who volunteer to share ideas in front of the whole group.

After WILC WorX, Ashley and Jesse led a differentiated LinkedIn workshop. Those who are just getting started on LinkedIn, stayed with Ashley to get things set up. Those who have LinkedIn and have been using it headed upstairs to Jesse's studio for "LinkedIn 2.0"

10/05/2026

Finance, Banking, and Investment student associates recently completed a wealth management case study. The experience began with an associate-led professional panel and concluded with students pitching their wealth management plans to our business partners.

We are grateful for our business partners who create these authentic learning experiences for us! The Waukee APEX program would not exist without them!

Two different Des Moines University campuses in one week! On Monday, our Medical and Bioscience Research (RES) and Explo...
10/02/2026

Two different Des Moines University campuses in one week!

On Monday, our Medical and Bioscience Research (RES) and Exploration of Health Science and Medicine (EHSM) associates toured DMU's new campus to learn about their medical simulation labs and anatomy labs. On Wednesday, RES and EHSM associates made their way to DMU32, DMU's former campus, to use their regional training center and engage in prenatal and neonatal training.

This is just another way we expose our associates to various career possibilities in the medical fields!

Last week, the WILC hosted more than 300 School-to-Work students from Waukee High School, Northwest, Johnston, Norwalk, ...
09/30/2026

Last week, the WILC hosted more than 300 School-to-Work students from Waukee High School, Northwest, Johnston, Norwalk, and Dallas Center Grimes. Each future intern participated in two mock interviews as well as professional breakout sessions, and had their professional head shots taken to be used while building their LinkedIn profiles.

This is a yearly full-day workshop that our School-to-Work team hosts. I was walking around during the workshop, chatting with people from the different schools, and everyone expressed gratitude for our team for putting this event on!

Recently the Exploration of Health Sciences and Medicine team went to Edgewater to exercise with the residents. Between ...
09/28/2026

Recently the Exploration of Health Sciences and Medicine team went to Edgewater to exercise with the residents. Between exercises, they talked about how it’s important to stay active - both physically and mentally!

Another great experience to get further down that future career funnel: "If this is the kind of stuff I might be doing in this career path, am I into it or should I pivot?" Those are the kinds of questions we want our student-associates to dig into during their APEX time.

Another career exploration post! Our APEX Exploration of Health Sciences and Medicine teams recently welcomed Kristin Kh...
09/25/2026

Another career exploration post! Our APEX Exploration of Health Sciences and Medicine teams recently welcomed Kristin Khoo, CRNA and Mandy Newton Rosenow, PA to the WILC.

Kristin is one of many guest speakers who share about a lesser-known career path with great work/life balance.

Mandy provided a financial breakdown of the different tiers of medical schooling. She gave an over of different medical programs from RN to PA to MD. Her presentation was a great start to the semester, providing a numerical and financial view of the different tiers of schooling.

As you'll hear me say throughout many of these posts: it's another way for us to provide information to make better-informed future decisions!

A group of our APEX Medical & Bioscience Research associates recently visited LifeServe Blood Center to learn about uniq...
09/23/2026

A group of our APEX Medical & Bioscience Research associates recently visited LifeServe Blood Center to learn about unique careers in lab settings, tour the lab, and figure out their blood type.

Our student-associates often come to us with career ideas that are at "the top of the funnel." High level ideas that they don't realize are more of an umbrella term than a specific job. Things like, "I'd like to work in a lab."

We're big fans of taking them to tour places like LifeServe so they get a little further down that career funnel to learn about specific jobs within a lab setting. Jobs like operations manager, quality control, and blood delivery driver, among many others.

It's another way to give them opportunities to make better-informed decisions about their futures!

Andy and Carrie -- our Exploration of Sport and Exercise Science instructors -- sent me these photos from an Athletico a...
09/21/2026

Andy and Carrie -- our Exploration of Sport and Exercise Science instructors -- sent me these photos from an Athletico athletic training ankle taping lab.

They put this lab together every semster and I've always thought this was a near-perfect example of one of our APEX goals: put student-associates in positions to try on a career for a semester.

Think about the athletes in your life: they're playing sports, thinking about sports, engaging with sports all day. They love being on the field of play and they're starting to wonder if there are careers out there for someone like them.

Get them in one of our APEX courses and we'll put them in situations where they can learn what's out there!

Address

295 SE Ashworth Road
Waukee, IA
50263

Telephone

+15159879888

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