Photos courtesy of: Max Heiderscheidt 

For every student yearning to learn beyond the core curriculum of math, science, english and social studies, the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus is a dream. The school takes almost everything that normal schools do and throws it all out of the window. It gives students more freedom than typical high schools and focuses more on what a student would like to do in their future.

“There are seven pathways at CCIC so depending on what you want to do, you choose a pathway,” said senior Peniel Owusu-Ansah.

There’s a range of many different subjects from an aviation class to cooking.

“I’m in the Lodging and Resort Management– we do hospitality, like talking to people,” said Owusu-Ansah. “We run the cafe–it’s a student-run cafe where the kids cook and we sell it.”

Another student, Noah Chenoweth, was able to add on to the many different courses available at the CCIC, with another class that he takes.

“I’m in Business. We do a lot of project-management stuff,” said Noah Chenoweth.

There’s something at the CCIC for everyone who could be interested in taking a class not offered at traditional high schools. Along with a student-run cafe, there’s an Automotive Technology class that allows students to work on real vehicles, similar to the Aviation course with a plane and helicopter, and has many other opportunities for students besides these.

“CCIC is completely one hundred percent different from any other school; there’s almost no normal looking classes,” said Chenoweth.

Owusu-Ansah made another point about how CCIC is different from other schools in the district.

“There are a lot of windows. You can see through every classroom,” said Owusu-Ansah. “I think the principle said, ‘If you see it, you would want to do it.’ So everything is kind of an open concept.”

CCIC is a school with lots of opportunities, and has classes that cater to every type of student.  

“I think CCIC is targeted at everyone, people who know what they want to do, who don’t know what they want to do, or just want to go into trade and stuff like that,” said Owusu-Ansah.