Weber School District's new Catalyst Campus gives students a head start on careers

WEBER COUNTY — What do you want to be when you grow up? A new program in the Weber School District is giving students an opportunity to start answering that question through real-world experience.

The district's new Catalyst campus is designed to help students explore their interests and gain hands-on experience in potential career fields. "We want to start helping our students identify that at a younger age, and through experience, they'll know what they want to do and what they don't want to do," said Nikki Slaw, principal of Innovation High.

The program will offer students eight career pathways, including health sciences, computer science, engineering, design and entrepreneurship. Rather than simply learning about those careers in a classroom, students will have opportunities to work directly with industry professionals on real-world projects.

"What we're trying to do more of is connect students to industry, real-world projects where they get an opportunity to work with industry partners," said Rod Belknap, the district's CTE director. Belknap said those partnerships can give students a better understanding of what working in a particular field is actually like. "When you're working with an industry partner on a real-life website, that really adds an element to it," he said.

The district already has more than 60 industry partners interested in helping students gain that experience.

Students also won't necessarily have to leave their current school to participate. They can attend Catalyst full time or split their schedule between Catalyst and their boundary school.

"We just want to create a school experience that meets the needs of all students," Shaw said.

The first phase of the program starts this year, with teachers already preparing the new academies. The district plans to break ground on the new Catalyst building in September. Officials hope to have the full campus up and running in about three years.

The goal is to give students more options as they prepare for life after high school, whether that means entering a career, attending technical school, going to college or pursuing a combination of those paths.

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