Missouri Innovation Campus Program Celebrates 10 Years of Accelerating Degree Completion

The Missouri Innovation Campus program is celebrating the completion of its 10th year this spring. The program’s seventh cohort (2018-22) recently finished their final year with each member receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Missouri on May 6. 

 

As with all MIC students, the new graduates also successfully completed a three-year, year-round paid internship with the program’s 65 industry-leading business partners. The 2022 graduates earned an impressive cumulative grade-point average of 3.42 with 76 percent having a GPA of 3.0 or above and 47 percent earning 3.5 or greater. One cohort member earned a perfect 4.0 GPA in this academically rigorous and career-focused program.

 

MIC students enter the program as high-school juniors by taking not only courses required to graduate high school but also college credit courses that position them to earn an associate degree at Metropolitan Community College after just two years. Their final two years are dedicated to completing coursework at UCM with students earning their bachelor’s degree in high-demand fields two years after high-school graduation.

 

This unique program has earned regional and national recognition and served as a model for similar programs throughout the nation. The MIC program benefits students by reducing college debt and accelerating their time to degree completion while also  developing a quality IT and engineering workforce for the Kansas City region.

 

Updated information about additional MIC program cohorts follows.

• The 2019-23 cohort completed year three in May 2022 with a cumulative GPA of 3.19. Among cohort members, 79 percent earned a GPA of 3.0 or greater while 26 percent had a GPA of 3.5 or above. These students also completed their second year of year-round, paid internships and will enter their final internship year in August.
• Students in the 2020-24 program recently finished their first year of paid internships, earning a cumulative GPA of 3.24. Sixty percent of the cohort members had a GPA of 3.0 or above with 40 percent earning a GPA of 3.5 or better. Two students had earned a perfect 4.0 GPA by the end of their second year in the MIC program.
• Completing their first year in the program, the 2021-25 cohort had a cumulative GPA of 3.58 with 91 percent earning a 3.0 or greater GPA and 56 percent having a GPA of 3.5 or above. Four students in this cohort have a perfect 4.0 GPA after their first year.

The Missouri Innovation Campus program’s 2022-26 cohort is beginning their first year of courses in early June at Metropolitan Community College (MCC). They will also take dual-credit high school courses at Summit Technology Academy as well as additional college courses beginning in August from both MCC and UCM.

 

The MIC program includes business and civic partners, the University of Central Missouri, the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District’s Summit Technology Academy and Metropolitan Community College.