Salida High School students, VeroTouch explore project-based learning

A group of students from Salida High School spent their afternoon visiting Buena Vista business VeroTouch on Wednesday, May 1. 

“We want to give them an opportunity to get out here and see what it’s like to get their hands on something, see where construction is going, where the engineering is going, and then encourage them to get started,” said VeroTouch co-founder and CEO Grant Hamel, “whether it’s starting their own business, getting a job and getting to work.”

Students helped out on the site by building sawhorses and got an inside look at the automation and printing systems, building process and general operations. 

VeroTouch has already begun working with local schools and has three student associates: Felix Heeter, Lead Business Development Associate; Tanner Isaacson and David Leach, Business Development Associates.

“Project-based learning is what we do here,” Hamel said. “The students we have that are our associates are working on legit projects that push our company, help us grow and are the basis of the infrastructure of what we do every day. They’re real parts of our company.

Felix Heeter, SHS student and VeroTouch associate, got involved with VeroTouch through Fred Maxwell of Colorado Mountain College. 

“Instead of doing a normal internship and structuring it the way most people would structure it,” he said, “I decided I wanted to meet all sorts of people in the community, business, sales, finance, tech. … Now, we’re getting to work on all sorts of projects. We’ll work on some marketing, we’re involved in finding new software to do enterprise resource planning. … They’re getting us involved in all sorts of projects, throwing different things at us that are behind-the-scenes operations. It’s really interesting.”

Having on-the-job professional experience has been a good learning moment, Heeter said. 

“That’s something I’ve really enjoyed,” he said, “getting to see the fast pace of a start-up company. … Every day it’s moving as quickly as possible, trying to get better and better.”

Internships also offer “so much more than just school,” Heeter said. 

“One day of an internship, it’s one month of school,” he said, “getting to be out in the field, no matter what it is you’re doing. If ou speak to anyone who’s done Maxwell’s internship program … they’re just so excited about it.” 

The whole of VeroTouch’s staff has been involved in working with the associates. 

“When you tell somebody that you trust them and that what they’re doing is really important and you hold them accountable,” he said, “the growth that you see is really inspiring to everybody involved. … This is an opportunity for companies to take a look at what they’re doing and say, ‘How do I have my employees involved in other things besides the day-to-day grind? How can I get them involved in educating the future and feel like what they’re doing in their communities is impactful?’

“This is an opportunity for businesses to step into the classroom,” Hamel said. “We want to show the initiative, ‘Hey, we’re here and want to be part of this.’ We want to be helpful when creating the workforce of the future and show what that needs to look like, show that work can be different from what we’re considering today.

“Work is a vehicle by which you can experience life, and you should find companies or find your passion in ways you can do that,” he said.