Bootcamp Calendar — Day by Day
Field Experience · 2026–27 · 90-minute blocks
Both cohorts run the same 12 blocks in the same sequence — they just land on different calendar days. The Placement cohort (14 students, every day) finishes bootcamp Fri Aug 28 and starts at placement sites Mon Aug 31. The Enterprise cohort (10 students, A days only, full year) hits the same 12 blocks across A days and finishes Tue Sep 15. Two cohorts, one structure — you are never planning two different lessons.
Before Thursday Aug 13
Everything here has to happen before students walk in. The first two items are time-critical.
Do this today — hard deadline
Invite mock interview community partners. Mock Interview lands Mon Aug 24 for the Placement cohort, and partners normally need 2+ weeks lead time — which is already gone. Send invitations today and expect to lean on your warmest contacts. Target 5–7 partners so 14 students rotate in pairs; if you can only land 3–4, lengthen the rotation and cut the observation time rather than moving the date.
This week
Confirm the Enterprise cohort's A-day block is your contact time. If Bulldog Media students spend that block with the media advisor instead of you, the 12-block Enterprise window shrinks and this calendar needs to shift. Verify before Aug 13.
Before Aug 13
Print and stage materials. Syllabus (24 copies), Training Agreements, dilemma station cards (15 stations — print from dilemma-scenarios.html), interview question bank, mock interview feedback forms.
Before Aug 13
Verify site logins. Every student needs a working account before Block 1 — the whole course runs through the site. Test 2–3 accounts yourself.
Before Aug 13
Set up the gradebook. Six weighted categories: Hours Log 20 · Reflection 15 · Bootcamp 15 · Employer/Advisor Eval 20 · Self-Assessment 15 · Capstone 15. See the Grading Policy.
Before Aug 19
Have the placement list ready. Block 5 (Explore & Apply) starts the employer paperwork clock. Students can't apply to positions that aren't posted yet.
1Calendar View
One calendar per cohort, Monday through Friday. Put these side by side and the whole reason the two tracks finish three weeks apart is visible in one look.
Bootcamp block
Critical — don't move it
Working
No class this day
No school
Placement · Every Day
14 students · 12 blocks in 12 school days
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Aug
10–14
10–14
10
No students
11
No students
12
No students
13A
Block 1
Begin With the End in Mind
First day. Capstone preview, syllabus, the gate, logins.
14B
Block 2
Career & Self-Assessment
Baseline 10-skill rating — save it.
Aug
17–21
17–21
17A
Block 3
Your Professional Brand
Google yourself, LinkedIn, email signature, cold-call roleplay.
18B
Block 4
Resume Workshop
Resume due today — gates tomorrow.
19A
Block 5
Explore & Apply
Applications submitted.
★ Starts the employer paperwork clock
20B
Block 6
Elevator Pitch
30-second video recorded.
21A
Block 7
Interview Skills
STAR taught. Post Monday's rotation.
Aug
24–28
24–28
24B
Block 8
Mock Interview
5–7 community partners on site.
★ Invite partners 2+ weeks out
25A
Block 9
Improvement Plan + 10 Skills
4/3/2/1 scale explained.
26B
Block 10
Dilemma Stations
15 stations — print and place before class.
27A
Block 11
Post-Assessment + Placement Confirmed
Goal conferences begin. Transportation verified.
28B
Block 12
Plan of Success + Launch
Bootcamp Completion scored (15%).
★ Last day before work begins
Aug 31
Sep 4
Sep 4
31A
Day 1
First day at placement
Be reachable all day. Supervisor cells in your phone.
1B
At placement
2A
At placement
3B
At placement
4A
At placement
Hours log + reflection due Sun 11:59 PM — every week from here.
Enterprise · A Days
10 students · the same 12 blocks, spread over 5 weeks
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Aug
10–14
10–14
10
No students
11
No students
12
No students
13A
Block 1
Begin With the End in Mind
May capstone shown. Gate: not current, not remote.
14B
No class
Aug
17–21
17–21
17A
Block 2
Career & Self-Assessment
Market research. Baseline 10-skill rating.
18B
No class
19A
Block 3
Professional + Business Brand
Invite pitch panelists today for Sep 2.
20B
No class
21A
Block 4
Resume Workshop
Resume submitted.
Aug
24–28
24–28
24B
No class
25A
Block 5
Define Your Enterprise
Scope, hours plan, named client.
★ Makes the whole year gradeable
26B
No class
27A
Block 6
Elevator Pitch = Business Pitch
30-second video recorded.
28B
No class
Aug 31
Sep 4
Sep 4
31A
Block 7
Interview Skills as Client Talk
STAR. Pricing questions out loud.
1B
No class
2A
Block 8
Client Pitch Panel
3–4 panelists on site.
★ Also your Review Board recruiting
3B
No class
4A
Block 9
Improvement Plan + 10 Skills
How the three scoring voices work.
Sep
7–11
7–11
7
Labor Day — No school
8B
No class
9A
Block 10
Dilemma Stations — Enterprise
No supervisor to escalate to — now what?
10B
No class
11A
Block 11
Post-Assessment + Enterprise Confirmed
Remote work agreement signed.
Sep
14–18
14–18
14B
No class
15A
Block 12
Business Plan + Goal Conference + Launch
Bootcamp Completion scored (15%).
★ Bootcamp ends here
16B
No class
17A
Day 1
First remote A day
Check in with all 10 even though they're off campus.
18B
No class
What the two calendars show you at a glance
The Placement cohort's twelve blocks sit in three unbroken weeks. The Enterprise cohort's twelve are scattered across five, with a no-class day between almost every one — which is the real teaching problem in this course. Assume the A-day cohort forgets the thread between blocks. Open every Enterprise block with two minutes of "here's where we were," and don't schedule anything for them that depends on momentum from the previous session.
2At a Glance
Same 12 blocks, both cohorts, side by side. Print this page and this table is your whole bootcamp on one sheet.
| Block | Activity | Placement Daily | Enterprise A Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Begin With the End in Mind | Thu Aug 13A | Thu Aug 13A |
| 2 | Career & Self-Assessment | Fri Aug 14B | Mon Aug 17A |
| 3 | Your Professional Brand | Mon Aug 17A | Wed Aug 19A |
| 4 | Resume Workshop | Tue Aug 18B | Fri Aug 21A |
| 5 | Explore & Apply ★ Enterprise: Define Your Enterprise | Wed Aug 19A | Tue Aug 25A |
| 6 | Elevator Pitch | Thu Aug 20B | Thu Aug 27A |
| 7 | Interview Skills | Fri Aug 21A | Mon Aug 31A |
| 8 | Mock Interview ★ Enterprise: Client Pitch Panel | Mon Aug 24B | Wed Sep 2A |
| 9 | Improvement Plan + Meet Your 10 Skills | Tue Aug 25A | Fri Sep 4A |
| 10 | Workplace Dilemma Stations | Wed Aug 26B | Wed Sep 9A |
| 11 | Post-Assessment + Placement Confirmed Enterprise: Enterprise Confirmed | Thu Aug 27A | Fri Sep 11A |
| 12 | Plan of Success + Launch Day | Fri Aug 28B | Tue Sep 15A |
Why both cohorts get exactly 12 blocks
The Placement cohort has 12 school days between Aug 13 and Aug 28. Counting A days from Aug 13, the Enterprise cohort's 12th A-day block is Tue Sep 15 — 8/13, 8/17, 8/19, 8/21, 8/25, 8/27, 8/31, 9/2, 9/4, 9/9, 9/11, 9/15 (Labor Day Sep 7 falls out). Same block count, same sequence. You teach one lesson plan twice, not two curricula.
Where the two cohorts genuinely diverge
Only three of the 12 blocks change content, and all three are the same swap: the Enterprise cohort has no outside employer, so anywhere the Placement cohort points at a business, Enterprise points at their own venture or Bulldog Media.
- Block 5 — Explore & Apply becomes Define Your Enterprise
- Block 8 — Mock Interview becomes Client Pitch Panel
- Block 11 — Placement Confirmed becomes Enterprise Confirmed
3Placement Cohort — Block by Block
Each block is one 90-minute period. Minute breakdowns are a plan, not a script — but the deliverable is not optional, because it's what the gradebook reads.
1
Thu Aug 13 · A Day · First Day of School
Begin With the End in Mind
0–10
Welcome + the one question. "What do you want to be able to say about yourself in May that you can't say today?" Written, not discussed. Collect these — you'll hand them back at the capstone.
10–30
Show the capstone first. Walk the capstone requirements before anything else. Everything in this course is preparation for that presentation. Students who see the destination on day one make better choices in week six.
30–55
Syllabus + the gate. Cover grading honestly: half the grade is did you do the thing on time, half is how well did you do it. Then state the gate out loud — "Not current, not on the schedule." Say it on day one so it's never a surprise later.
55–75
Site walkthrough. Every student logs in live, in front of you. Find the weekly hours log, the reflection form, and your 10 skills pages. Do not let anyone leave without a confirmed login.
75–90
Career cluster preview + Training Agreement home. Quick overview of clusters to prime tomorrow's assessment. Training Agreement goes home tonight.
2
Fri Aug 14 · B Day
Career & Self-Assessment
0–10
Training Agreement collection. Track who's missing — this is your first read on which students will need the escalation ladder.
10–45
Self-assessment. Students complete the interest and skills inventory on the site. Frame it as data for their own decision-making, not a test that assigns them a career.
45–70
Cluster deep dive. Students pick their top two clusters and research real local employers in each. This is quietly the groundwork for Block 5 — they should leave with names.
70–90
Pair share + baseline 10-skill self-rating. Each student rates themselves 4/3/2/1 on all 10 employability skills. Save this. It's the baseline the Q1 self-assessment gets measured against, and it's the single most persuasive artifact at the capstone.
3
Mon Aug 17 · A Day
Your Professional Brand
0–15
The search. Students google themselves and write down exactly what a supervisor would find. Blunt, private, no shaming — the point is that this is already happening whether they manage it or not.
15–40
Email signature + phone communication. Every student builds their professional email signature — name, title (Field Experience Student), school, contact. Then the cold-call roleplay: phoning a potential employer. Most students have never done this and it shows.
40–70
The 7-item audit + LinkedIn. Work the social media audit checklist (4 items) and LinkedIn setup (3 items) — the submission is gated on all 7. Profile photo, public posts, bio, then LinkedIn photo, city, school, and a headline that says more than "student." Real changes made in class, not assigned as homework.
70–90
Brand statement. Two sentences: who you are professionally and what you're building toward. This becomes the opening line of the elevator pitch in Block 6, so make them write it down somewhere they'll find it.
4
Tue Aug 18 · B Day
Resume Workshop
0–15
What a resume is actually for. It's not a life summary — it's a 20-second argument that you're worth a conversation. Show one strong and one weak example side by side.
15–60
Build it. Work time on the template. Circulate constantly — most students need help translating fast food, babysitting, and sports into transferable-skill language. That translation is the lesson.
60–80
Peer review, structured. Trade with a partner. Three required questions: Is there a typo? Is every bullet a result rather than a duty? Would you call this person? Written feedback, not verbal.
80–90
Revise and submit. Resume must be submitted before students leave — tomorrow they apply with it. A resume that isn't done today blocks Block 5.
5
Wed Aug 19 · A Day
Explore & Apply
The most schedule-critical block in bootcamp
Applications submitted today start the employer paperwork clock. Every day this slips is a day a student's Aug 31 start date slips with it. If a student is absent, they make this up before Friday — not "sometime."
0–20
Walk the open positions. Go through the live positions list together. Name what each site actually wants and what the commute looks like — transportation reality kills more placements than interest does.
20–40
Rank three, honestly. Each student picks three placements in preference order and writes one sentence on why each fits their cluster work from Block 2. No one gets one option.
40–75
Apply. Application submitted with resume attached. Circulate and check every submission before it goes — a typo'd application to a partner site costs you the partner, not just the placement.
75–90
What happens next. Lay out the timeline: interviews, employer paperwork, confirmation in Block 11, start Aug 31. Set the expectation that you may need something from them on 24 hours' notice.
6
Thu Aug 20 · B Day
Elevator Pitch
0–15
Why 30 seconds. Model a strong pitch and a rambling one. The difference is structure, not charisma — which is good news for every nervous student in the room.
15–35
Draft. Start from the Block 3 brand statement. Structure: who I am → what I'm pursuing → what I bring → what I'm asking for.
35–70
Rehearse in rotation. Three different partners, 30 seconds each, one specific piece of feedback per round. Volume of reps beats depth of coaching here.
70–90
Record and submit. Phone video, 30 seconds, submitted. Recording is non-negotiable — students who hear themselves fix more than students you correct.
7
Fri Aug 21 · A Day
Interview Skills
0–20
STAR, taught properly. Situation, Task, Action, Result. Teach it hard today — STAR is also the format for every weekly reflection all semester, which means teaching it once here saves you fifteen weeks of vague submissions.
20–45
Question bank work. From interview-question-bank.html, students draft STAR answers to four questions, including "tell me about yourself" and one weakness question.
45–70
Partner practice with the bank. Partners draw questions at random. Answer cold. Being unprepared for the exact question is the actual skill.
70–90
Logistics for Monday. Confirm dress expectations, arrival time, partner names, and rotation order for the mock interview. Print the schedule and post it. Ambiguity Friday becomes chaos Monday.
8
Mon Aug 24 · B Day
Mock Interview
−20–0
Partner arrival and briefing. Partners arrive 20 minutes early. Give each one the feedback form, the rotation schedule, and one sentence of direction: be warm but real — these students need honest signal, not encouragement.
0–10
Set the room. Students in professional dress, phones away, waiting area established. Ten minutes of ritual makes the next seventy feel real.
10–75
Rotation. 10-minute interviews, 3-minute resets. With 5–7 partners, all 14 students get through with room for overruns. Students not interviewing complete a structured observation form — watching is worth nearly as much as doing.
75–90
Partner debrief in front of students. Ask partners for the top two patterns they saw across the whole group. Hearing "most of you undersold yourselves" from a real employer lands differently than hearing it from a teacher.
9
Tue Aug 25 · A Day
Improvement Plan + Meet Your 10 Employability Skills
0–30
Interview Improvement Plan. Students read their partner feedback and name two specific changes plus how they'll practice each. Feedback that isn't converted into a plan is just a compliment or a bruise.
30–60
The 10 skills, and how they're graded. Walk all 10 Illinois employability skills. Then show the 4/3/2/1 scale in plain language and be explicit about the standard: 3 means you performed to the level a paying employer expects — not "did fine for a high schooler."
60–80
How reflections feed the grade. Show the mechanism openly: each week's reflection is tagged to one skill, written in STAR, and at quarter close they self-score all 10 citing the week that proves it. Students who understand this write better reflections in week two.
80–90
Pick two focus skills. Each student names the two skills they'll target this semester and writes them into their goal sheet for Block 12.
10
Wed Aug 26 · B Day
Workplace Dilemma Stations
0–10
Setup and rules. 15 stations across 7 clusters, printed from dilemma-scenarios.html. Pairs, ~5 minutes per station, written response required at each. No right answers — defensible reasoning only.
10–75
Rotate. Circulate and listen more than you intervene. Note which dilemmas produce real disagreement — those are your debrief material.
75–90
Debrief the hard three. Take the three most contested dilemmas whole-group. Land the point that ties them together: almost every workplace problem is solved by telling someone early, not by handling it alone.
11
Thu Aug 27 · A Day
Post-Assessment + Placement Confirmed
0–25
Post-assessment. Same instrument as Block 2's baseline. Students compare then and now themselves — two weeks of growth is visible and worth naming out loud.
25–50
Placement confirmations. Hand out site, supervisor name, address, start time, dress code, and reporting instructions. Every student writes their own start details down — don't let the only copy be a paper you handed them.
50–75
Goal conferences begin. Start 1-on-1s while the rest of the class works on Block 12 materials. Five minutes each: two focus skills, one measurable semester goal, one thing they're nervous about. Finish the rest tomorrow.
75–90
Logistics gauntlet. Out loud, student by student: how are you getting there, what time do you leave, what's your supervisor's name, what do you do if you're sick? Transportation problems surface here or they surface on Aug 31 as a no-show.
12
Fri Aug 28 · B Day
Internship Plan of Success + Launch Day
0–35
Internship Plan of Success. Written and submitted: two focus skills, semester goal, weekly hours target, what success looks like at this specific site. This is the document you'll hand back at the capstone.
35–55
Finish goal conferences. Anyone remaining from yesterday.
55–75
The weekly rhythm, walked live. Log hours as you go, reflection due Sunday 11:59 PM. Everyone submits a practice reflection right now, in class, so no one's first attempt is unsupervised. Then restate the gate: "Not current, not on the schedule."
75–90
Launch. Hand back the day-one index cards. First shift is Monday. Send them out with the reminder that from Monday they represent the school, the program, and the next student who wants that placement.
Mon Aug 31 — First day at placement
Be reachable all day. Expect at least one transportation failure, one student who can't find the entrance, and one supervisor who wasn't told a student was coming. Have every supervisor's cell number in your phone before Monday morning, not in a binder.
4Enterprise Cohort — Block by Block
Nine of these twelve blocks are the Placement lesson, unchanged. Only Blocks 5, 8, and 11 are rebuilt, and the framing shifts throughout: their supervisor is a client, and their business is the placement.
Run these as one lesson, not two
On the shared blocks, teach the same content and adjust the examples in the moment. Where the Placement cohort hears "your supervisor," Enterprise hears "your client." Where Placement hears "your site," Enterprise hears "your business." Don't build a parallel curriculum — you'll abandon it by October.
1
Thu Aug 13 · A Day · First Day of School
Begin With the End in Mind
0–10
Same opening question, written and collected.
10–30
Show the May capstone. Enterprise students have a full year, which cuts both ways — more room to build something real, and far more room to drift. Naming May on day one is how you fight the drift.
30–55
Syllabus + the Enterprise gate. Same grading model. Different gate: "Not current, not remote." Working off-campus is a privilege earned by being current. State plainly that Bulldog Media students also lose equipment and studio access.
55–75
Site walkthrough. Confirmed login before anyone leaves. Emphasize the hours log — self-directed students under-log, and unlogged hours are ungradeable hours.
75–90
Preview the Quarterly Review Board. Boards are Oct 15 · Dec 16 · Mar 11, with Q4 merging into the May capstone. Say now that they present to adults who aren't you. It changes how they work in September.
2
Mon Aug 17 · A Day
Career & Self-Assessment
0–10
Training Agreement collection.
10–45
Self-assessment. Same instrument. Additional framing for this cohort: your results tell you which parts of running a business you'll need to be deliberate about, because you don't get a supervisor covering your weak spots.
45–70
Market research instead of employer research. Who already does what you do, what do they charge, who buys it? Bulldog Media students research comparable school and small-market media operations.
70–90
Baseline 10-skill self-rating. Same as Placement, and it matters more here — this is the number the Q1 Review Board sees alongside their own scoring.
3
Wed Aug 19 · A Day
Your Professional Brand + Business Brand
0–15
Same self-search. Sharper stakes: for a self-employed student, their personal brand is the company's brand.
15–40
Professional email, sent to you. Same as Placement — but written as a business inquiry to a prospective client.
40–70
Two brand audits. Personal cleanup, then the business layer: name, logo, how a customer contacts you, and where they'd find you. Bulldog Media students audit against the school's existing brand standards rather than inventing their own.
70–90
Two brand statements. One personal, one for the business. Both feed the Block 6 pitch.
4
Fri Aug 21 · A Day
Resume Workshop
0–15
Why you still build one. Enterprise students push back on this. The answer: you will need it for college, scholarships, and the day the business ends — and "founded and ran a business in high school" is the strongest line most of them will have for years.
15–60
Build it. Same template. The hard translation work here is turning self-directed work into resume language with results attached.
60–80
Peer review. Same three questions.
80–90
Submit. Plus: pull the strongest bullet and identify it as the opening line of the client pitch.
5
Tue Aug 25 · A Day
Define Your Enterprise
The block that makes the year gradeable
Placement students get their scope defined by an employer. Enterprise students have to define their own — and a student whose enterprise is still vague in November is a student you cannot grade, coach, or defend at a review board. Do not let anyone leave today without a written scope.
0–20
Name the enterprise. What is the business, who is the customer, what do they pay for? One paragraph, no jargon. If they can't say who pays, they don't have a business yet — they have an interest, and today's job is to narrow it.
20–45
Scope of work. What will exist by December that doesn't exist today? By May? Concrete deliverables, not aspirations. Bulldog Media students scope against the actual production calendar — games, events, announcements — so their year has real deadlines in it.
45–70
Hours plan. 60 hours is the floor, and most of this cohort will pass it easily. The real work is deciding when: which days, how long, logged how. Self-directed students fail on logging, not effort.
70–90
Name your client or advisor. Every student identifies at least one external person who will complete a feedback form — a paying client, a recurring customer, or the Bulldog Media advisor. No name today means no external voice in their grade, so chase this one.
6
Thu Aug 27 · A Day
Elevator Pitch = Business Pitch
0–15
Why 30 seconds. For this cohort the pitch isn't practice for an interview — it's the tool they'll use every time someone asks what they do. They'll deliver this version dozens of times this year.
15–35
Draft. Structure: what I do → who it's for → what problem it solves → what I'm asking for. Built from the Block 5 scope, so it should write itself if Block 5 landed.
35–70
Rehearse in rotation. Three partners. One added question each round: would you actually buy this?
70–90
Record and submit. Same 30-second video. Tell them this is the rough draft of what they'll deliver to the panel in Block 8.
7
Mon Aug 31 · A Day
Interview Skills as Client Conversations
0–20
STAR, taught properly. Same hard teach, same reason: STAR is the weekly reflection format and the language of every review board answer they'll give this year.
20–45
Question bank, reframed. Four STAR answers — but to client questions: Why should I hire you over someone with more experience? What happens if you miss my deadline? What do you charge and why?
45–70
Cold practice. Partners draw at random, including the uncomfortable pricing questions. Most students have never had to say a number out loud and defend it. Make them.
70–90
Wednesday logistics. Panel order, dress expectations, what to bring. Confirm each student's Block 5 scope is finished — a student without a scope has nothing to pitch.
8
Wed Sep 2 · A Day
Client Pitch Panel
−20–0
Panelist briefing. Invite 3–4 panelists — a local business owner, the business teacher, the Bulldog Media advisor, an administrator. Same instruction as the mock interviews: be warm but real. This is also your recruiting pool for the Quarterly Review Boards, so treat it as an audition for both sides.
0–10
Set the room. Professional dress, panel table, waiting area.
10–80
Pitches. 5 minutes pitch + 2 minutes questions per student. Ten students fits comfortably. Everyone not pitching completes an observation form — and with a small cohort, they're watching people they'll work alongside all year.
80–90
Panel debrief, out loud. Top two patterns across the group. Then tell students plainly: these are the people you'll present to in October.
9
Fri Sep 4 · A Day
Improvement Plan + Meet Your 10 Employability Skills
0–30
Improvement Plan. Read the panel feedback, name two changes and how you'll practice each. Where the pitch itself was the weak point, revise the scope — not just the delivery.
30–60
The 10 skills and the 4/3/2/1 scale. Same standard: 3 means you performed to the level a paying client expects.
60–80
How the grade actually works here. Be explicit that Enterprise students have three voices in their skill scores: their own self-assessment, their client feedback form, and the Review Board. Show that a 2-level gap triggers a conversation, not a quiet override.
80–90
Pick two focus skills. Written into the goal sheet for Block 12.
10
Wed Sep 9 · A Day
Workplace Dilemma Stations Enterprise Set
0–10
Setup. Same 15 stations from dilemma-scenarios.html. Add an enterprise framing card at each: you have no supervisor to escalate to — now what?
10–70
Rotate. Pairs, ~4 minutes per station with 10 students. Listen for the students who assume a problem will resolve itself — that instinct is the one that costs them a client.
70–90
Debrief + the four they'll actually face. Take the three most contested, then close on the enterprise-specific set: a client who won't pay, a deadline you're going to miss, work you're not qualified for, and a customer who wants something unethical. Every one of them will hit at least one of these this year.
11
Fri Sep 11 · A Day
Post-Assessment + Enterprise Confirmed
0–25
Post-assessment. Same instrument as the Block 2 baseline. Students compare their own then-and-now.
25–55
Enterprise confirmation, one at a time. Sign off individually on: final scope, named client or advisor, hours plan, and where the work physically happens. An unconfirmed enterprise doesn't get remote privileges — this is where the gate gets its teeth.
55–75
Remote work agreement. Written and signed: where you work, how you're reachable during your A-day block, what you submit weekly. Bulldog Media students add the equipment and studio access agreement.
75–90
Client feedback form logistics. Walk through who sends the form, when, and what happens if a client ghosts. Give them the escalation path now — a missing form in October becomes a missing 20% of the grade.
12
Tue Sep 15 · A Day
Business Plan of Success + Goal Conference + Launch
0–35
Business Plan of Success. Two focus skills, December and May deliverables, weekly hours target, how you'll know it worked. Handed back at the May capstone, so make it specific enough to be judged against.
35–60
Goal conferences. Five minutes each — ten students fits. Two focus skills, one measurable year goal, one honest worry. Ask each one directly: what would make you quit on this by November? The answer tells you where to coach.
60–80
Weekly rhythm + the gate, live. Log hours as you go, reflection due Sunday 11:59 PM. Everyone submits a practice reflection in class. Then the gate, plainly: "Not current, not remote." Every freelancer in the world gets paid by submitting documentation on time — this isn't a school rule.
80–90
Launch + the year map. Hand back the day-one index cards. Post the board dates once more: Oct 15 · Dec 16 · Mar 11 · May capstone. First remote A day is Thu Sep 17.
Thu Sep 17 — First remote A day
Check in with all 10 during that block even though they're off-campus. The first remote day sets the norm for the whole year: if nobody hears from you on Sep 17, the hours logs get thin by October.
5When It Doesn't Go To Plan
Twelve blocks with no slack means absences and interruptions need a rule, not a decision each time.
Absence rules by block
- Blocks 4, 5, 8 — must be made up, on a deadline. Resume, application, and mock interview/pitch each gate something downstream. Resume and application: made up within 48 hours. A missed mock interview or pitch panel: scheduled with you 1-on-1 within a week, because there's no second panel.
- Blocks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 — asynchronous makeup. Every one has a submittable deliverable on the site. Assign it and move on; don't reteach.
- Blocks 11, 12 — cannot be skipped. Confirmation, goal conference, and Plan of Success are the three things that let a student start work at all. A student who misses these doesn't launch on time, and that's the honest consequence, not a punishment.
If you lose a block to an assembly, fire drill, or schedule change
Merge, don't cut. The natural pairs are Blocks 2+3 (both largely independent work time) and Blocks 9+10 (the improvement plan compresses to 20 minutes if you've already returned the feedback). Never merge Blocks 4, 5, or 8 into anything — and never cut Block 1, since the tone it sets is the reason the gate works in October.
If a placement falls through mid-bootcamp
It happens most years. The student keeps moving through the blocks with the cohort — the bootcamp content is identical regardless of site — while you work the placement problem separately. Do not park a student in a corner "until we figure it out"; they'll disengage in three days and you'll spend the semester recovering it.
Bootcamp, One Screen
Placement cohort14 students · Aug 13 → Aug 28 · 12 blocks
Enterprise cohort10 students · Aug 13 → Sep 15 · 12 A-day blocks
Block length90 minutes
Blocks that differ between cohorts3 of 12 — Blocks 5, 8, 11
Most schedule-critical blockBlock 5 — starts employer paperwork
Needs outside adultsAug 24 mock interviews · Sep 2 pitch panel
Placement work beginsMon Aug 31
Enterprise remote work beginsThu Sep 17
Review Boards (Enterprise)Oct 15 · Dec 16 · Mar 11 · May capstone
CapstonesPlacement Tue Dec 15 (tentative) · Enterprise week of May 10
The gatePlacement: not current, not on the schedule
Enterprise: not current, not remote
Enterprise: not current, not remote
Companion pages: Grading Policy & Plan · Pacing Guide (by phase) · Standards Alignment · Syllabus