School is supposed to hand students the necessary tools needed for their future. But students have often found that pen and paper just isn’t enough anymore to prepare them for life outside of a classroom. That’s where Real World Learning comes in.
Real World Learning is a recent initiative that was started and has since gone on to rapidly expand within the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. It is a collaboration between the Kauffman Foundation, a major philanthropic foundation that operates in the greater Kansas City area, and employers and schools in the community. The initiative’s primary purpose is to equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge that are needed after graduation.
“What real-world learning is, it’s less like sitting down inside of a classroom and being taught stuff, [but] we’re getting out in the real world and actually doing stuff. [For example], if you wanted to become an HVAC technician, we have a program at the MCC where you actually go work on HVAC technology, and that’s how you learn. [In contrast], maybe other schools would put you in a classroom and give you a presentation about it,” sophomore Jack Dillingham said. He is one of three student representatives, each chosen from the sophomore, junior, and senior classes, who are meant to represent the school in its real-world initiative.
While senior Teagan Hill and junior Chase Hullet serve as student ambassadors and help to promote the initiative and implement new things in school to make real-world learning more prevalent, Dillingham has a more unique role.
“I’m a student storyteller, which means that, as opposed to them bringing it into schools, I basically tell the world about what we already do inside the school,” Dillingham explains. “So basically, I would have shown I would showcase like NCC or end caps, or maybe programs where you can get client-connected projects or internships, or market value assets, stuff like that.”
Dr. Hawar Khalandi, Director of College and Career Readiness, now serves as the head of the Real World Learning initiative at Platte County, shortly after the district received the RWL Design and Plan grant in 2021, which is renewable for up to three years.
She believes that Real World Learning has the potential not only to serve as a great benefit within our own community but also to the wider Kansas City community as a whole, by providing hands-on “real world” experiences that can’t be found in a classroom.
“Real World Learning has been a major success across the greater Kansas City area because it has united dozens of school districts and business/industry partners around a shared goal: ensuring students graduate with meaningful, real-world experiences called Market Value Assets, such as Internships, college credit courses, industry-recognized credentials, or client-connected projects,” Khalandi explained via email. “It [now serves more than 30 districts and over 90,000 students]. Schools across the region have significantly increased the number of students earning these valuable experiences, strengthening student engagement, workforce readiness, and connections between education and local industry.”
The Platte County School District has a unique vision for implementing Real World Learning in its schools.
The portrait of a graduate is the district’s clear vision for the skills that every student should have by the time of their graduation. It specifically focuses on six key areas: global citizenship, personal connections, self-awareness, problem solving, personal growth, and effective communication.
“[The portrait of a graduate] guides how we design learning experiences so students leave a school prepared not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and with real-world skills needed for college, career, and life,” Khalandi explains.
But what really distinguishes Platte County’s version of Real-World Learning from others is the range of hands-on, student-driven experiences that can really go beyond traditional classroom learning. Students run a coffee shop, a spirit store, and complete business projects that are all designed to teach them the multiple aspects of running or managing a business.
“In addition, our Aspiring Entrepreneurship program allows students to pitch their business ideas, with finalists receiving funding to invest in their ventures,” she continues. “These experiences, combined with internships, client-connected projects, and industry-recognized credentials, give students meaningful opportunities to develop real-world skills, such as communication, problem-solving, and adaptability.”
The perfect illustration of Platte County’s unique flair of Real World Learning can be found within its own student representative, senior Teagan Hill, who utilized the skills she learned from the program to help her craft and grow the success of her freeze-dried candy business.
“I was able to just kind of [start my own business.] I actually got my food handlers’ license permit during my freshman year. [I think FBLA, and both the social media and presentation skills I gained from it,] just kind of got me kick-started to have the knowledge. It was just the confidence to come out with it. And if it wasn’t for real learning, [I wouldn’t have either the confidence or experience].”
Hill and the other student representatives of Platte County Real-World Learning recently attended the “Get on the Bus” conference on Jan. 30, 2026, at Union Station, where Platte County RWL representatives went to share both their knowledge and their extensive experience of the initiative with the greater Kansas City community. In particular, Hill was one of the main speakers at the event, where she discussed her own experiences with Real World Learning and how it has helped her in ways that traditional schooling can’t.
“It was called the [“Get on the Bus”] event, where people like students, superintendents, teachers, and business owners in the greater Kansas City area came together,” Hill explained. “They came in to hear about the real learning that goes in our school, collaborating with other schools to figure out like, what like we can do better on And so pretty much that was me sharing my experience in front of everybody, how like for me, I shared my NTC experience and me having my CNA and then being able to use it in this internship program.”
The long-term goal of the Real World initiative is to ensure that all high school students graduate with a Market Value Asset (MVA) in addition to their diploma by the 2029-2030 academic year, preparing them for their future careers after graduation and beyond. To eventually accomplish this, the Platte County School District will work on improving engaging and relevant experiences for students through intentional strategies and actions.
“While this implementation process is still a work in progress, we hope that students will not only understand the skills conceptually but also be able to confidently apply them in real-world situations.”
