Inside the school producing a teen app developer, kindergarten podcasters

After receiving the McAlister’s Deli Outstanding Teacher Award, Leadership Prep School elementary teacher Ms. Jennifer Francy used the funds to build a podcasting station for her Technology and Career Pathways classes.

The station reflects her project-based learning approach, giving students a platform to share their work and develop real-world skills.

Named “Voices from the Garden,” she envisions the podcast as a place “where ideas bloom.”

Through the program, students work in production teams, taking on roles such as host, researcher, interviewer, sound engineer, producer and editor to create five- to 10-minute long episodes.

Francy said those episodes could entail:

• Kindergarten and second grade: Engineering and design episodes documenting how students solve problems and build projects.

• First grade: Food-related episodes connected to the hydroponic tower of herbs, called Crown Garden, such as healthy eating habits and safe ways to handle food.

• Third grade: News and storytelling interviews from her student news broadcasters.

• Fourth and fifth grade: Entrepreneur pitch episodes where students promote their own ideas.

But Francy’s goal goes beyond producing a polished podcast.

“More than anything, I am excited about the opportunity podcasting will give my students to build confidence in public speaking and in formulating and expressing their thoughts,” Francy said.

She wants students to move from nervousness behind the microphone to confidently introducing their own show, helping them recognize early on that their ideas are worth sharing.

How does that confidence extend into a student’s high school years?

LPS high school student Sid C. has turned his personal interests into businesses and platforms designed to help others.

Growing up fascinated by his grandfather’s hospital in India, Sid initially considered a career in the medical field. But as time went on, he realized that he was more interested in the entrepreneurial side of the hospital, such as running a hospital as a business, making decisions, managing people and creating something of his own.

That curiosity eventually led him to explore finance and investing, start a shoe-reselling business and create Money with Sid, a social media platform that explains financial concepts in a relatable way for students and young adults.

“When I got my first real job at a local food truck, I started noticing … [that] a lot of my friends and I were earning similar paychecks, but many of us had never really been taught what to do with that money. I remember seeing friends spend much of their paycheck within a few days, and it made me realize how little financial education most students my age actually receive,” Sid said. “One of the best ways for me to understand something is to explain it to someone else. That's how Money with Sid started. I began creating short Instagram videos that break down financial concepts in a simple and relatable way for students and young adults.”

Later, Sid’s entrepreneurial spirit and long-held desire to help others inspired another idea: LocalLoop – Deals Near Me, an app connecting local businesses with nonprofits. Businesses sponsor deals, consumers purchase them and 100% of the proceeds go to participating nonprofits.

Sid largely credits the LPS environment for helping him turn his ideas into action.

“LPS isn't just focused on academics; leadership, entrepreneurship and creativity are part of the culture,” Sid said. “I've been encouraged to take an idea and ask, ‘Okay, what are you actually going to do with it?’”

That mindset has helped Sid move LocalLoop from an idea to a fully functional app. He is also part of LPS’ newly launched Career Innovation Lab, where seniors explore real-world problems and develop solutions.

How does LPS produce career-ready graduates?

Instead of waiting until students are preparing to graduate, LPS begins exposing them to career possibilities early. For career readiness coordinator Retna Shaw, what sets the program apart is combining early exposure, student accountability and direct access to industry professionals.

LPS has cultivated partnerships across fields such as finance, veterinary science, leadership, hospitality and tourism, and more, allowing students to gain real-world experience through project-based learning alongside their standard coursework.

“The biggest takeaway is definitely the accountability piece for our students; they are accountable for their future. We’re providing all of these opportunities for them to take advantage of,” Shaw said.

Career readiness at LPS can be seen in every grade level. Elementary students are introduced to age-appropriate experiences that help them connect classroom learning with potential careers, such as Francy’s “Voices from the Garden” podcast.

Formal career readiness begins in eighth grade, and by high school, students are participating in:

• Internships: Employers in the community accept student interns, so they can see what the career field is like.

• Lunch and Learn job shadowing sessions: 20-35 students gather to hear from industry partners, twice a week during lunch and advisory. Students need 60 job shadowing hours to graduate.

• Real-world projects: Identifying industry or community problems and offering solutions.

• Professional presentations: Presenting to industry partners, classmates and teachers.

• More

What’s new in LPS’s Career Readiness Program this year?

LPS launched its Career Innovation Lab this school year, giving seniors a dedicated space to work on career-related problems and strengthen career technical student organizations (CTSOs).

It also opened a student-led enterprise called Lead and Latte in October, which sells coffee, breakfast items, matcha and hot chocolate. The cafe partners with the Transition Department to provide meaningful opportunities for SPED students.

Lastly, it added a Career Center.

“[The Career Center] is going to be a very collaborative space where we're going to ask industry partners to come in, and we’ll have a set group of students who are ready to present,” Shaw said. “We want to make sure that our students are bouncing their ideas off of [partners] that can say, ‘Hey, that's not really a problem [in this industry].’ Students always have such big dreams, but we want to make sure that they are also rooted within reality and within the career space at that time.”

How much has the program grown since Fall 2024?

Between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, the program’s growth has been exponential:

• Job-shadowing hours (296% growth): Increased from 2,254 to 8,924 hours.

• Professional speakers (680% growth): Grew from 10 to 78 speakers.

• Internships (4,100% growth): Increased from 1 to 42 internships.

• Partnerships (448% growth): Grew from 12 to 67 partners.

• Mock interviews/DOL’s: Rose from 35 to 102 mock interviewers

Ultimately, Leadership Prep School’s goal is not simply to help students choose a career. It is to give them enough experiences to understand themselves, test their ideas and enter their next chapter with confidence.

And for students like Sid and the younger students preparing to say “Welcome to Voices from the Garden,” that confidence is already taking shape.

Those interested in learning more about Leadership Prep School or becoming an industry partner can find resources here:

• Website: https://www.lpsfrisco.com/ 

• Become a partner:
  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeU3uniT4Gp_aLgP73ZuNNisD4gx5j-OsJBVCQBHW5qyU4SZQ/viewform?usp=header

• Addresses, hours and phone numbers: https://www.lpsfrisco.com/our-schools 

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The above story was produced by Senior Multi-Platform Journalist Sydney Heller of Community Impact's Storytelling team, with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.