Trace Pickering wasn't a good student when he was in school. Fortunately, an English teacher inspired him to develop a new attitude towards his life and career and become a teacher himself. He quickly learned that his own students were just as bored and unmotivated as he was back in school.

In 2013, community and school leaders in Cedar Rapids came to Trace Pickering with a proposal: start a high school program that brings the local community and the school together and make learning relevant and contextual to students.