Welcome to Kelly Corrigan Wonders.

I'm Kelly Corrigan.

And today I'm wondering what school would look like if we actually believed that teenagers could contribute to the economy and society.

My guest is Steve Day. He is the principal of Cherry Creek Innovation College. could contribute to the economy and society.

My guest is Steve Day.

He is the principal of Cherry Creek Innovation Campus in Colorado.

CCIC is a giant, one-of-a-kind career and technical education campus, where students can learn to fly a plane, build a house for Habitat for Humanity,

machine a part that gets launched into space, or train as a nurse, all before they graduate high school.

Steve spent 13 years as a middle school science teacher before moving into school leadership

and has spent his career making the case that the most powerful thing a school can do

for a kid is help them see themselves as someone who can get things done in the real world.

At CCIC, 2,000 students across 16 pathways are doing exactly that, and the community loves it.

They recently voted 70% in favor of a $950 million bond measure

to double the size of the CCIC campus. And if you ask Steve, that's just the beginning.

Here's my conversation with innovator and principal, Steve Day.

So Steve Day, what kind of student were you?

I was kind of a classically good student.

It was one of those things.

I was really lucky.

Learning was easy for me.

And I had just really solid teachers, good home life, you know, support a chance to do homework in an easy, well-structured space when I got home. Real traditional family. My mom was home raising. It was me and two older brothers. Kind of a classic Midwestern middle-class upbringing. And so I was really lucky in that way. I was first in my family to graduate from college. I was really proud of that. But it was just it was a time when going to college, at least my parents, didn't have to mean entry into middle class, right? They were successful financially with their high school diplomas and just maybe a couple of college classes and so on. And I think we've all seen that kind of go away, right, as a model for education. So for me as a student, I was real

lucky until I got to college and Calcutu and holy cow, it kicked my butt. So hard. I mean,

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