Building Practical Skills with High Rise Academy
Many young adults wonder what comes after high school. Retail or fast food jobs are easy to get, but don’t provide transferable skills. College is an option, but it doesn’t always connect directly to real work. High Rise Academy offers an alternative: apprentices work with real businesses, apply AI tools, and learn by producing measurable outcomes.
This article is based on a session led by Jack Wendt and Dylan Haugen, where they discussed how the program works in practice. You can watch the original video session here.
Who This Is For
The GCT framework—Goals, Content, Targeting—is a simple way to clarify who a program is designed for and how it delivers value. It helps align expectations by showing what you’ll learn, how you’ll learn it, and who the program is best suited for.
Goal: Learn practical digital marketing and business skills by working with real clients.
Content: Apprentices apply frameworks, such as the Content Factory, to show results and accountability.
Target: Young adults who want to build portfolios and experience instead of settling for jobs that don’t transfer into long-term skills.
It’s also for parents who run local service businesses and want their kids to gain meaningful work experience early—whether by contributing to the family business or working with other real clients. High Rise Academy provides proof of work—real numbers, real businesses, and clear documentation. Anyone who values learning through action rather than theory will find this program a fit.
What Apprentices Do
Apprentices are matched with real businesses and given practical tasks. They gather raw content from business owners, create social media posts, manage advertising campaigns, and document outcomes. Every week they submit reports following the MAA framework—showing metrics, providing analysis, and outlining actions for the next week.
The focus is on producing measurable improvements for businesses. Apprentices learn to set up campaigns, analyze performance, and present results in a professional format. They also get practice in communication, coordination, and accountability by working with both clients and mentors.
Learning Beyond Technical Skills
Jack described it this way:
“Most jobs extract value from you. Get a job that you can extract value from. Learning from the job, adding to your resume, improving your interpersonal skills and your soft skills—all those things are going to be huge and you’ll never lose that value.”
The program develops more than technical expertise. Apprentices practice project management, communication, and leadership on every campaign. Writing weekly reports, presenting results, and coordinating with teams mirrors what’s expected in professional roles.
Dennis Yu—who has worked with major organizations like Nike and the Golden State Warriors—personally leads weekly office hours, which are open to every member of the academy. Apprentices review campaigns, identify weak points, and adjust strategy on the spot. Understanding what happens in office hours and why documenting progress is critical helps ensure steady growth and accountability.
Building a Portfolio That Matters
Every campaign turns into a case study. Apprentices save screenshots, MAA reports, and before-and-after analytics. This evidence becomes the backbone of their portfolio.
Instead of saying “I know social media marketing,” apprentices can show:
- A Facebook campaign that generated a specific number of leads.
- A Google Ads report showing cost per lead reduced by half.
- An SEO dashboard proving month-over-month traffic growth.
This level of documentation prevents fluff and builds credibility. It aligns with industry best practices such as E-E-A-T principles. Apprentices present their portfolios in review sessions with mentors, practicing how to explain results clearly and answer questions.
Visuals include:
- Screenshots from campaigns.
- Sample MAA reports.
- Quote cards from apprentices and clients.
- Analytics charts showing measurable improvements.
Employers and clients value proof. By the end of the program, every apprentice has a body of work they can point to as evidence of skill.
Get Started Here
If you want to stop guessing about your future and start working on real projects, apply to High Rise Academy. You’ll build campaigns, work with mentors, and graduate with a portfolio of documented results. This is not theory. It is work you can prove.
Start your application to High Rise Academy today. Build your first case study and show results that matter
