Skeleton of the Missouri Innovation Campus is now complete
October 14, 2016 | Bobby Burch
Editor’s note: In response to readers’ desire for quick-hitting stories, Startland News is launching a new segment, “News Flash,” to enable more coverage. Let us know what you think!
A huge facility that’s dedicated to filling an area employment gap by educating area high school students with technology courses is beginning to take shape.
With the aim to connect tech and engineering firms with a locally-trained workforce, the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee’s Summit was topped off Thursday with the final steel beam on its frame, the Kansas City Star reports.
The $40 million project — led by the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College and the University of Central Missouri — employs an accelerated model allowing high school grads to complete a bachelor’s degree in two years instead of four. It also will offer paid internships and mentorship program with more than 200 business partners.
Programs offered through the campus include courses in systems engineering tech, engineering tech, software development, computer science and design and drafting. McCownGordon Construction is serving as the general contractor for the 140,000-square-foot facility, which was designed by architects with DLR Group and Gould Evans.
The Star reports that when the facility located at 1101 N.W. Innovation Parkway opens in 2017 August, it’s expected to enroll more than 500 area students. For more on the campus, check out the gallery and video below.

2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Frustrated by the fit, this traveler-turned-swimwear founder crafted 10 pairs himself; now his trunk show is going global
Opening a popup swimwear store in one of Atlanta’s most upscale malls represented a surge of momentum for Tristan Davis’ high-end brand that began not on a beach or a runway, but in Kansas City’s tight-knit startup community. “We’ve gone from an idea in a handmade bathing suit to a high fashion mall in less…
Harvesting opportunity: How a KC chicken chain turned a strip of parking lot into its latest ingredient
Months before snow blanketed Kansas City this week, Todd Johnson transformed a weed-filled, unusable portion of parking lot at his Lenexa restaurant into a flourishing garden that serves up fresh produce used in kitchens at all three of his Strips Chicken and Brewing locations in Johnson County. In its first season, Moonglow Gardens — as…
AI evolved faster than rules to protect people; this founder wants to code ethics back into the tech
Amber Stewart sees what many overlook in artificial intelligence, she said: the human cost of unregulated technology that can manifest as anything from sexist and racist outcomes to outright theft from willing and unwilling members of the public. “I’m not afraid of the tech,” said Stewart, founder and CEO of GuardianSync. “I’m afraid of unfettered…
A romantic hideaway (for you and a book): Entrepreneur’s heart for reading opens store on Independence Square
America Fontenot didn’t plan to launch her new Independence bookstore on national Small Business Saturday — the busiest shopping weekend of the year — but renovation delays just kept pushing back the opening, she said. So while many small shops were offering Black Friday-adjacent deals to get customers in the front door, Fontenot’s The Littlest…






