LCC Hosts Business Immersion Program

Fullbridge Program teachers and participants take a break from their work to take a quick photo. Left to right: Joe Shields, Cyndee Velez, Shirley Razey, Felisa Andrade, Kidryn Kicks, Cheryl Sanchez, Aubrey Clevenger, and Alma Chavez.

Several Lamar Community College students spent the first two weeks of August immersed in the Fullbridge Program.  They worked from 8:00am-5:00pm every day in this fast-paced 10-day course that mirrors a rigorous workday in a real-world environment.  During this time, participants mastered essential business skills, identified their passions, and developed a roadmap to guide them to a successful career.

The Fullbridge Program, funded by the Colorado Community College System (CCCS), was designed to help students succeed in the modern workplace.  Fullbridge works hand-in-glove with universities, governments, and organizations to fully engage students and young professionals in the essentials of business, communication, and collaboration.  The program is an experience instead of a traditional class, which employs an immersive, integrated system of learning filled with real-world content and practical applications.

Fullbridge engages and inspires through its unique learning platform and passionate team of coaches.  At Lamar Community College, the coaches included Cheryl Sanchez; Aubrie Clevenger, College Controller; and Joe Shields, Business Faculty.

“This business boot camp was very fast paced, covering business fundamentals to business financial evaluation,” remarked Cheryl Sanchez, Vice President of Academic/Student Services.  “It was rewarding being back in the classroom and observing students transform their business knowledge. I am very proud of the fact the class had a 100% attendance and completion rate.”

Felisa Andrade, a freshman from Granada, participated in the boot camp.  “My favorite part of the program was the accounting, which is what I want to go into,” she said.  “The program gave every little detail and a ton of formulas that have been so helpful.  I’m in an accounting class this semester and what I learned in Fullbridge is making that class a piece of cake!”

“I was actually elected to be the team leader for our final project,” noted Andrade.  “That was a great experience.  I feel like I gained a lot of leadership experience with that, especially learning the strengths and interests of each person in the group and trying to incorporate that into our project.”

The program wrapped up with a big final project in which the class had to work together to create a proposal for selling a virtual reality concept to a large company like Apple.  They pitched their proposal to hypothetical Apple executives, their teachers Sanchez and Shields.

“This type of work (using real-world case studies) is invaluable for students to truly understand what they learn in class,” said Sanchez.  “It gives them a much deeper understanding of the concepts they learn and how to apply them in the real world.”

Fullbridge Program participants Kidryn Hicks, Felisa Andrade, Cyndee Velez, Shirley Razey, and Alma Chavez stop for a quick photo before presenting their final project.