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The Practicum
Discipling our human doing through hands on experience in the field of your choice.
Soft skills & marketplace development
Apprenticeships, internships, & independent study
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Build Your Own Path to the Marketplace
In the Core, you discover what it means to be a human being and build a framework to understand God's story. Now it's time to play your part in it. In the Practicum, you discover your human doing. You will discover your passions, gifts and talents and craft a plan to build marketable skills through hands-on experience in the field of your choice. Our unique approach empowers you (in collaboration with our team of mentors and coaches) to create your own customized path into the marketplace, all the while becoming a wise, mature and productive adult. At the end, you'll graduate with a full resume. Scrolling are some of the existing practicum tracks our students have done or are currently doing. You can choose from one of our extensive list of programs or add to our ever-growing network with a practicum track that YOU pioneer.
Students in the Marketplace
Below are just a few examples of recent graduates showcasing what their practicum track entailed. We call these tracks "emphases". Click "Learn More" to see what your dossier will look like when you graduate after acheiving your unique emphasis.
Koehn Manthei
For the first 15 months of the accelerated bachelor's program, I gained a broad foundation of wisdom through a 15-month intensive study of the liberal arts, with an emphasis in philosophy. Then in January of 2024, I began working in The Excel Creative art studio. My work focused primarily on audio engineering, but it included all aspects of music production, like writing, arranging, producing, mixing, mastering, and performing my original music, as well as producing and mixing music for other artists. By the end of my time at Excel, I had mixed and produced my own EP. In the future, I hope to use the skills I learned here to empower other artists, bringing their creative ideas to life. I purposely learned every step of the process of producing a song so that I could help anyone with any step along the way.
Carter Abney
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Starting my real estate journey in April 2024, I knew I had a lot to learn. While pre-licensing coursework gave me the foundation in contracts, property law, and market principles, I quickly realized that knowledge alone wouldn’t make me successful. I made it a priority to study the market consistently, ask questions, and lean on mentors for guidance. Slowly, I realized that expertise isn’t just about time in the industry—it’s about preparation, effort, and how well you listen to your clients’ needs. Not sure what I would be able to accomplish in my first year, I was thrilled when I helped buyers purchase a house for the first time in August, just four months after getting my license. Each challenge reinforced that real estate is about more than just closing deals—it’s about guiding people through uncertainty and helping them make informed decisions. Not long after, I secured my first listing for sellers, which felt like a major breakthrough. Since then, I've been able to sell three homes within my first year in the industry.
Katie Schmidt
In my role as a Social Media Manager at Provisions Mercantile and Radius Chiropractic, I have gained immense knowledge on content creation, marketing strategies, and marketing execution. One of the key strengths I have developed is creating effective content strategies that align with the brand's objectives and target audience. I have honed my skill of discovering trends early on and customizing them to fit the company's brand. This helps the business reach their niche audience and stay relevant in the ever-changing realm of social media marketing. This has allowed me to build authentic connections with my audience while producing measurable results.
Elisabeth Schneider
I attended Excel College from 2020 to 2023 where I received a holistic education that equipped me to collaborate, create, and problem solve not only in a classroom setting, but also in multiple community contexts. My time there challenged me to grow in confidence and leadership by learning to disciple my peers, lead corporate worship, and maintain flexibility in tending to the daily practicalities of life. My hope is to use these skills and insight to develop creativity and flourishing in any community I have the opportunity to be a part of.
Joshua Pile
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My training in media production didn’t necessarily happen in a classroom—it was something that matured through boots on the ground experiences behind my camera. It happened in intense disaster zones, on construction sites, firing ranges, in conversation with small business owners, and during tame coffee shop moments when I could put the camera down and finally reflect on what on Earth just happened. This has been a self-driven, deeply personal, and entrepreneurially rich journey that has taught me that in the end it’s been the relationships along the way that held the most value.
Matthew Conlin
Fueled by a desire to make a difference in wilderness settings, I pursued an associate's degree in Emergency Medical Science and worked diligently to obtain my Paramedic Certification. Along the way, I was honored to be elected class president, a role that allowed me to bridge communication between faculty and students while also earning my BLS, PALS, and ACLS certifications. Over the past three years, I've had the privilege to serve at Buncombe County EMS in both full-time and part-time positions. I've been trained as a Community Paramedic, and I take great pride in my role as a BLS instructor, where I've had the opportunity to teach several BLS and CPR classes.
Danielle Walz
I have served at Radius Chiropractic for almost 3 years now as a Chiropractic Assistant. This role has allowed me to grow my administrative skills in a medical office environment while serving the greater community of Asheville. Prior training for this position required a 6 month onboarding process that consisted of online training module videos, in person shadow experience, reading books and other online resources, and in person science training from local physicians and professionals.
See who our
students areworking for
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Soft Skills Training
85% of the reason people get a job, keep a job, and get promoted in a job is due to soft skills - not technical know how. In Phase 1, we focus on the development of all important soft skills like communication, team work, discipline, leadership, excellence, and more.
Outcomes Based
Success here is measured by outcomes – not test scores. Our consular team works with you and your mentor in your field of choice to determine the outcomes needed to achieve proficiency in your “emphasis”.
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Hands On Experience
Interested in web design? You should be working for a website designer, not a math professor. We let the professionals do the teaching. Get hands on experience in the field of your choice through Apprenticeships, Internships or Research Study – all while finishing your Bachelor's Degree.
Self
Directed...
...Mentor Guided. It’s your calling, not ours. Our team of mentors guides you as you discover passions, strengths, and callings and then choose an emphasis to exercise them in. We then help you craft a personalized path to achieve proficiency in that field.
Build Your
Network
Build a lifelong network of friends, mentors, marketplace leaders, and employers as you engage with our continually growing network, on and off campus.
Graduate
With a Resume
By achieving practical outcomes while getting hands on experience in your emphasis, you’ll graduate with a resume that shows employers you have what it takes to succeed in the marketplace. Think of it as a built-in dossier.
How We Do It:
The Process
Step 1
Discover
Start your Journey
The Discovery stage actually begins during Phase 1. While Phase 1 focuses on the classroom, this phase also plays a big role in your journey to the marketplace through soft skills training. You'll be working a job to earn a wage and build professional skills, all the while working with your personal coach to discover your strengths, giftings, and passions. You'll utilize best-in-class personality tools like DISC and Strengths Finders, explore your work history to uncover what made you come alive in previous workplaces, and highlight areas you thrived. Coaches will walk with you through questions such as: What skills do you want to learn/become proficient in? Why do you want to pursue this emphasis? After finding the answers to these questions, our team will connect you with employers that you're interested in so you can shadow them before diving in.
Step 2
Plan
Craft a Plan
After discovering your passions, gifts, and talents, you'll choose a field to emphasize in for Phase 2 and we will work with you and your employer to craft a personalized plan to achieve proficiency in that field. This way, you can stay focused on achieving outcomes that are set by professional mentors in the field - not just passing tests.
All the while, you'll be prepared for life in the marketplace through learning important soft skills, such as: financial stewardship, time management, attitude in the workplace, leadership skills, communication, and how to set yourself apart in the workplace.
Step 3
Advance
Get Hands On Experience
The most important part of any plan is execution. In the Advance Stage, you’ll spend the majority of your time in your internship, apprenticeship, or independent research study developing the skills you need to succeed in the marketplace.
At the same time, you'll be walking with your classmates and coach through the Core curriculum - but this time, backwards, discovering and walking out the virtues of each module. After all, if we begin with God, we also end with Him.
Throughout the process you'll receive regular feedback from your employer as you self assess your growth in the industry. You will finish your practicum with a Capstone semester where you will complete your professional portfolio (aka dossier) highlighting your completed outcomes. At the end, you'll graduate with a resume.
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Find Other Helpful Resources
Want to learn more or have other questions? Feel free to contact us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
PO Box #190
Ridgecrest, NC 28770
admissions@theexcelcollege.com
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