The baking industry workforce challenges are complex. The US education system has been moving away from funneling students into trades for decades now, promoting college education as the best path forward. The image of manufacturing as a career path has declined in the eyes of students, with more visible jobs like technology taking center stage. Baking companies are swimming against multiple currents to recruit and retain workers.  

There’s no silver bullet solution to these challenges. But one program based in the Blue Valley School District in the Kansas City metro area is doing its part to connect industries with high schools and give students the opportunity to explore potential career paths. The Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) is a program of profession-based learning aimed at supporting high school students — juniors and seniors — as they find their passions in the hopes of matching them to opportunities in the workforce. The program partners with high schools, industry, higher education and communities to develop curricula that allow students to learn industry-specific skills as well as project management and durable skills such as conflict management, communication, collaboration and critical thinking. 

At the Blue Valley flagship program, students can choose between six studies: bioscience, foods and entrepreneurship, business technology and media, engineering, teacher education and law, or medicine and health care. When I visited the Blue Valley CAPS program last month, the food science students were testing prototypes for their pitch later that week to chef Paul Wahlberg of Wahlburgers. The students had developed several prototypes that would pair well with the burger chain’s famous Wahl Sauce. Through this project, the students have had the opportunity to not only prep and cook food safely, but they also learn how to develop a product through trial and error and pitch it. 

While the Blue Valley CAPS program draws students from the Blue Valley School District, the CAPS Network has more than 100 locations and has expanded internationally. Director Chad Ralston estimated that the entire network reaches 15,000 students. 

“Kids don’t want a regular educational experience,” Ralston said. “They see the gaps in the workforce, and they want to fill them.”

The network is always expanding into new school districts. Baking and supplier companies interested in partnering with CAPS can visit www.yourcapsnetwork.org to find out if a program exists nearby or how to start one. 

Jennifer Lindsey, chief marketing and digital officer, Corbion, has been involved with the Blue Valley CAPS program for 11 years and said all it takes is a conversation to see if there’s an opportunity. To develop the food science program, she estimated she gave up 1 to 2 hours a week every other week for a month, and since then, 2 to 4 hours per semester to teach in the classroom and be a judge for the students’ final pitches. 

“For me, it all started with just a conversation,” she said. “No expectations, just learning how the program works and to what extent I could engage. It’s the same now for anyone or any industry to get involved; it just starts with a conversation.”