Waukee Innovation and Learning Center

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, 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 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 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 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 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!

Prior to the WILC opening, some of you may remember that our APEX teams met in business partner host sites around the Des Moines metro. While we were all spread out, we only gathered as a full APEX organization a few times each semester.

This is our Kitchen Table: one of the first projects by student-associates for the WILC after it opened in January of 2017.

At the time, Jeremy Cooper was leading the Architecture & Engineering team and they wanted to make sure that when we all moved to our new home at the WILC, we'd have a place to gather and embrace the APEX Family mindset.

This table was designed to use reclaimed barn wood and fabricated legs in the shape of the APEX logo. It's a nice reminder of the program's history whenever we see student-associates gathering around it!

Recently, our Animal and Vet Science associates welcomed dogs to the WILC to practice giving physical exams. They utilized methods used in the vet world to assess the health and wellbeing of these dogs.

This is the epitome of what we mean when we say that the APEX program allows our high school student-associates to try on a career for a semester to make a better-informed decision about their futures!

Here's a fun one: did you know that this semester we have three generations of the Goerend family at the WILC?

Russ has been an instructor in the APEX program for more than a decade -- that's me! I'm the social media champion for the WILC and the one sharing these posts.

Bob has been a business partner at APEX for going on three years. He has worked specifically with the Engineering, Technology & Robotics teams to design adaptable tools and sporting equipment for the participants at Can Play. Last year, they worked on a system so people who use wheelchairs can more easily play soccer with their friends!

Henry is a junior in the APEX program this fall, taking Russ's Designing Communication Solutions course and learning whether a career in marketing is what he wants to pursue.

We happened to all be at the WILC the other day, so I had one of our student-associates snap this photo.

This is just one example of an "APEX family." I know many of you reading this have sent multiple children through the WILC whether that was APEX or School-to-Work! Feel free to share any memories in the comments!

Here's what Ashley shared with me about these photos: The Finance, Banking, and Investments teams attended their premier partner kickoff event at Holmes Murphy. Breakfast, networking, learning sessions, and a tour of their campus.

Here's what that means: some of our business partners are "premier partners." Semester after semester, they consistently host us for tours and events, provide panels and mentors, and build time into their calendars for our APEX teams. Often, they have someone on staff who has "Connect with Waukee APEX" as one of their job responsibilities.

It should go without saying that we are appreciative of *all* the business partners we work with: large companies, non-profit organizations, small businesses with just a few employees.

Today's post, though, is highlighting one of these premier partner relationships that has stood the test of time! Holmes Murphy has invested time and energy in the Waukee APEX program year after year for nearly a decade! Thank you! 🤝