Crafting Heroes Executive Summary

Background

Products and Services

We plan to offer four-day coding camps and 5-month paid internships to serve as our pathways for student-learning at Crafting Heroes.

At technology camps hosted by Crafting Heroes, high school students learn about various concepts, techniques, and technology, including augmented reality handbooks, virtual reality real estate tours, VR/AR games, holographic/virtual museums, animation, coding, and game design. The camps expose students to curriculum and content they may be interested in exploring by having them work on small projects that align to the needs of industry partners. The camps, charged per student, host up to fifteen students each and last for four hours a day for four workweek days. Planned and facilitated by Crafting Heroes staff, the coding camps are run in the school classroom.

Our paid internship option delivers hourly pay and provides a more expanded opportunity for students that wish to commit to a sustained project for a partner organization. The “HoloQuest” name describes games and experiences developed by the students under internship at Crafting Heroes. Students under internship work for one hour a day from Monday through Friday for one school year. In-class hours observe cancellations and modifications enforced by the associated school and school district. The students sign up for the work-based learning course as one of their classes on their school day schedule. Interns have the option to work on projects outside of class time for additional paid hours, though with a restriction on total number of hours. The course offers credits for their high school transcript while simultaneously providing work hours for professional and technical experience. Certified teaching faculty provide instruction and guidance to the student interns to learn concepts necessary to progress and complete the project.

Mission Statement

By creating adventures and technology-infused experiences focused on purposeful innovation, we inspire and empower diverse groups of learners to grow and create positive social impact.

Company Goals and Objectives

The goal of Crafting Heroes, LLC is to provide workforce development opportunities for high school students studying computer science, user experience design, and immersive technology. Through camps and paid internships, Crafting Heroes staff supports students in creating immersive experiences for partners in the non-profit, education, and cultural appreciation/preservation sectors. Camps provide an opportunity for exposure to curriculum and content with small projects, while internships are longer commitments on a sustained project for a partner organization. Partner organizations identify immersive software experiences that would benefit their organizations, and Crafting Heroes works with both the partners to create software roadmaps and curriculum that students can follow and use to create the software through work-based learning experiences.

Our objective is to connect the gap between the lack of immersive technology internships available to high school students and the companies that want immersive experiences, overall contributing to the community. We achieve this vision in partnership with schools that run work-based learning classes and are the bridge between community organizations and schools. The oversight and translation of client feature requests into age appropriate, leveled programming objectives is made possible by our highly trained and award-winning computer science educators. Projects pursued by the students are crafted utilizing modern and innovative technologies such as XR headsets, motion capture hardware and software, and industry-standard game development engines.

We make it our responsibility to equip students, the heroes of the tomorrow, with the necessary resources to help build their future. We believe that students should be able to create the future they will inherit, and the vision of Crafting Heroes, LLC is to inspire and empower tomorrow’s heroes to build the future.

Current Industry

In the Colorado Springs area, there is an absence of immersive computing internships for high school students due to a deficiency of hardware adoption at scale and the high proportion of companies working with the hardware in the local area who have defense contracts. At the same time, non-profit, educational institutions, and cultural appreciation/preservation organizations want immersive experiences to generate interest and interactive exhibits. However, the entities lack the expertise on staff to make immersive experiences as well as the funding for professional software developers to create the experiences. Currently, there are almost 400 open positions in the Colorado Springs area for software developers according to Glassdoor, a trend that is mirrored in many predictions including the Bureau of Labor Statics. The bureau projects that the need and growth for software developers will grow significantly faster than average. Additionally, the STEM and computer science pipeline has been described as porous, and the students at the K-12 level are often excluded from doing meaningful work in partnership with their community organizations. The XR technologies are predicted to have a major impact post-covid recovery according to many sources, yet there is no major established pipeline for the talent.

Our Solution

Unlike existing programs that charge to provide pre-recorded lectures to train in-industry professionals and college students, our approach offers real-time and in-person classes that equip young students with the knowledge and technology to develop projects with real clients. Our method, contrasting traditional school programs, is built upon work-based learning and compensates the students as interns to develop the projects requested by interested companies and entities as the students learn the content. Additionally, the content and technology provided is expected to drive innovation in various industries as well as have a major impact on post-covid recovery, but there is no major established pipeline for teaching the talent. Existing educational platforms focus on discrete skills and low-level programming objectives intended for traditional hardware, but our approach supports high-level programming outcomes for high school students using industry standard software for immersive technologies. By extension, we support the creation of products that the community desires yet lacks the funds to have the projects created by professional teams. The company’s clients, sponsors, and partners for projects are sourced from entities that support missions such as workforce development, STEM initiatives, community development, educational topics, immersive technology, and/or innovation within the education landscape and require a project to demonstrate their support or educate others about their intended subject or industry.

Company Information

Crafting Heroes, LLC is a for-profit entity registered with the state of Colorado and founded by Sean Wybrant, Cheri Wybrant, and Deidre LaCour.

Deidre LaCour studied cybersecurity at the University of Colorado Springs (UCCS) and minored in Business Information Technology (IT). The Bachelor of Innovation™ degree program equipped her with the experience of collaborating with diverse teams to develop a skillset that employs innovative thinking. Unique from a Bachelor of Science major, she approaches circumstances and problems as an engineer, but also an innovator, applying the technical skills of a computer security professional while also applying herself as a visionary. Her background includes experience as an information security systems engineer and an IT helpdesk technician. In 2022, she took on the challenge of co-leading Crafting Heroes as Chief Executive Officer to advance the mission of a business that aligns with her own values and passions.

Cheri Wybrant is an experienced graphic designer with 18 years of experience making logos and graphics for a wide range of businesses, specializing in making graphics for schools and educational organizations. As a graduate of the Pikes Peak Community College Multimedia and Graphic Design program, she is adept at using the Adobe Suite, and has created logos and brands for a variety of individual projects and programs. In 2018 and 2019, Cheri helped teach summer camps on Saipan and worked with student interns learning Adobe products. As Chief Marketing Officer at Crafting Heroes, LLC, Cheri designs company marketing materials and graphics.

Sean Wybrant earned a position as a Lead Educator in his district’s Next Generation Learning work and in 2012, he began his work in Career and Technical Education. Sean’s work led to his selection as the 2017 Colorado State Teacher of the Year, and he has also led numerous professional development sessions around Next Generation Learning strategies, technology use in the classroom, personalized learning, and service learning over his career. He has presented at the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference, Colorado Education Initiative Showcase, and Denver Comic Con. Now, part of his work includes developing curriculum and teaching students as the Chief Education Officer of Crafting Heroes, LLC.