Business courses at Broomfield High earn students college credit, industry certifications, and most importantly, career exploration opportunities

On a Tuesday in Kelly Walter’s Business classes at Broomfield High School, students collaborate in scavenger hunts relating to cognitive bias, open surprise miniature products to create marketing campaigns, pay simulated bills and balance mock bank accounts. You would never guess that these classes are only one week into a new semester.

The business classes taught by Walter at Broomfield High School are popular. There’s a personal finance class, introduction to business, a marketing class, management, entrepreneurship and social media for business courses. And they come with an additional perk, college credit and a chance for industry certifications and work-based learning opportunities. The students don’t even need to leave their home high school to earn them.

A background in business

Walter is an adjunct professor, meaning her qualifications deem her able to create and administer courses eligible for college credit for high school students. She has only been teaching full time for the past 4 years, all that time at Broomfield High School where her kids attended. Her son has graduated and her daughter, a senior, is in the Teacher Academy program through BVSD at Apex.

What makes Walter uniquely qualified to teach these business courses is her 25-year career in high tech. She worked as a professional in software where she excelled to become the National Vice President of Sales. She holds a degree in marketing from the University of North Texas, and is currently working to complete her masters in teacher leadership at CU Boulder.

When asked what inspired her move to teaching from the world of business she shared, “I just wanted to do something important. I love my community, I live in Broomfield just down the street, my kids went here and I know these students, many of them since kindergarten.”

She saw a vacancy in the high school’s business program and knew she had a unique skill set to contribute. 

“I wanted to bring value to the students, and where I could do that was with real-world business experience.”

She now has so much interest in her classes that there are wait lists for her courses. Her students say her business background makes them more engaged and interested in what she has to teach them.

Students share their learning experience

Broomfield High School senior, Asher Wilcox says, “the teachers that teach the concurrent classes (meaning that earn college credits) like Mrs. Walter worked in those worlds, so she’s teaching us from real business experience not only curriculum and I hope that better prepares me for my own real world work experience.”

Thanks to Broomfield High’s course credit offerings, Wilcox has already earned the necessary credits to graduate and now gets to finish his senior year earning extra college credits and exploring career options. 

“I’ve taken her personal finance class, and now the marketing one. I plan to major in Biochemistry and maybe work in a lab in college,” he shared. “But whatever career path I take, those lessons in how to budget my money, about student loans, how a business operates, will all be good things for me to apply in life.”

Owen Alphonse, a junior at Broomfield High is taking his third business class at the school this year.

“I’m personally interested in the courses because I want to be an entrepreneur and be self-employed one day,” he shared. “I think they’re helping me — the way she teaches is really active learning that’s in-the-moment in class and it helps me to learn a lot more.”

Alphonse says isn’t sure if his next step will be college after high school, but he’s confident that the college credits and career exposure he’s gaining are helping him prepare for his future.

Career exploration is the main goal

Walter knows one of the most common questions high school students get asked is “What are you going to do after high school?”

"I think we ask a lot of kids when we ask the question "What do you want to do?", says Walter. “That’s like asking them which spot of the ocean they want to swim in, it’s too big of a concept to wrap your head around.”

So instead she approaches career exploration as a process of elimination.

“I want my classes to serve as a useful tool to help students figure out what they want to explore in college or as a career, and what they don’t want to explore,” says Walter. 

“When they are exploring business as a pathway here they can know before they invest heavily in a career or college pathway if it's something they’re interested in or can rule it out.”

Concurrent courses (that earn college credit) are for EVERY student

If there’s one thing Walter wants students and parents to know about her business courses, it’s that every student can thrive in them. She says her classes represent the diverse population of the school and concurrent courses are not only for high-performing students.

“I can’t think of a high school student that wouldn’t benefit from some of our content (personal finance, business, etc) and if the student is willing to show up, we can make sure they succeed,” Walter shared.

She also hopes parents understand all of the college credit opportunities that are available to their students.

“My own daughter is going to graduate from BVSD with more than 30 college credits. I’m not sure most parents know what’s available for post-secondary credit that their student can earn in high school. Those credits are worth more than $20,000 to my family when my daughter goes to college, not to mention the associated living expenses. It’s a great opportunity to save money.”

She emphasizes that her concurrent courses teach the same content and the same learning outcomes as the college credit course, but are designed with a learning approach for the high-school brain. Walter works to gamify the concepts in her classes to improve engagement and retention through interactive programs, games and hands-on learning.

“In the personal finance class they love the finance simulator program, it’s a simulated financial year-and-a-half of their life. They have to pay bills, get a job, manage their credit score and income, and pay taxes.”

At the end of each class, the students draw a “Life Happens” event where their simulation may result in an unexpected auto repair bill, a child being born, a birthday check from grandma or even falling for a ponzi scheme. The students laugh in dismay and have to assess how to cover the expenses or rework their budget for the month.

Industry certifications are not to be ignored

“I think certifications are the future of learning, they’re content created out of industry that moves and evolves faster,” says Walter. 

Industry certifications teach practical career skills (Walter’s classes offer certifications in software and marketing and business) and some jobs require them of employees.

“Employers are realizing not every employee is rooted in academia, a lot of the work force is priced out of college education and there is a dearth of key skills that can be earned quicker and more efficiently via certifications.”

She says each year she looks at the curriculum to connect any applicable certifications to the learning outcomes that have been designated for the course.

“I’ve had students come back and tell me they got into Leeds School of Business in large part because of the certifications they earned in my class.”

Grad Plus: A career or college advantage for every student

College credit, industry certifications, and work-based learning are all part of BVSD’s Grad Plus framework, with a goal of every BVSD student graduating with more than a high school diploma, making them better prepared for an ever-evolving work world.

“I have students earning three of the four Grad Plus quadrants in my classes alone, which gives them a great head start,” says Walter.

Nettie Welk, BVSD’s Director of Career and Technical Education says teachers like Mrs. Walter are breaking down barriers for students who think certain career or college pathways may not be for them. 

“Our goal with the Grad Plus framework is ensuring all of our students are as prepared as possible and understand their full potential and opportunities when graduating and launching into the real world.”

Learn more about BVSD’s Grad Plus Framework and the career and college pathways available to high school students by each school on the BVSD Grad Plus webpage.

“Go for it”

Broomfield High School Junior, Lorelei Gibson is taking her first business class this semester (Personal Finance) to learn the basics of money management.

“I was interested in the course content, and learning that it was a concurrent class was an extra bonus,” says Gibson. “I’ve taken other concurrent classes in English Language Arts and Pre-Calc and it's not that different to me from other high school classes.”

When asked for advice for other students hesitant to take college credit courses in high school she says, “Go for it, the teachers are great about getting you through the content, even if you need help.”

Even after a successful business career, Walter says teaching high school brings her the most fulfillment. Her dream is for business courses at her high school and others to expand with more adjunct teachers and more opportunities for students.

“There’s not anything more rewarding in my career than I am doing right now,” says Walter. “I hope at a minimum I can change a student's day, and potentially have an impact that lasts the rest of their life. I feel lucky to be a part of their journey."