St. Joseph School District showcases real-world learning at community breakfast

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- The St. Joseph School District Foundation hosted its 2026 fall community breakfast at Missouri Western State University, highlighting how students are preparing for success after graduation.

This year's event focused on real-world learning and the different opportunities students have to prepare for life beyond high school.

Those opportunities include dual-credit courses, career experiences, industry credentials and partnerships with local businesses and colleges.

Cori Elms, an instructional coach for real-world learning, said it was exciting to get a firsthand look at what teachers and students across the district are doing.

"I got the opportunity to see the relations between the clients and community members have to be involved, which was a lot of fun to bring together," Elms said.

Elms was also part of a real-world learning panel led by Superintendent Ashly McGinnis. The panel focused on the different assets and experiences students can gain to help prepare them for their futures.

The discussion also covered what that process looks like for students as they explore careers and gain experiences that can help them after graduation.

"When we can take all of those avenues, that's where we can reach all of our students," Elms said.

For Elms, having community members attend and participate in the event reinforced the idea that everyone has a role in supporting students.

"I hope the people got excited and found a way that maybe they could get involved and be a part of the education of our students," she said.

Students also had the chance to showcase some of the real-world learning happening in classrooms.

Nitalia Larkin, a junior at Central High School, was demonstrating rovers, small wheeled devices that students learn to program using calculators.

She explained that the rovers are essentially boxes on wheels that students can code to move in different patterns, including squares and curves.

"I have been at a few award ceremonies and stuff like that, but this is my first one at Missouri Western. I am a little nervous but very, very excited to be here," Larkin said.

Larkin said she enjoys math and science, which makes programming the rovers especially interesting to her. She enjoys being able to use math to create something that actually moves and works.

Nicole Rotich, another Central High School junior and Larkin's partner during the student showcase, said they were demonstrating projects that use equations to create different shapes.

"We can also make those shapes move, just like how today I made a beating heart out of that," Rotich said.

Rotich hopes people who attended the event left with a better understanding of how creative students can be with math.

She also wants people to see that math can be innovative and fun, rather than simply being the difficult subject many people think it is.