Passion. Projects. Community.
BIG exists to assist students in developing their agency, efficacy, and passions while gaining valuable real-world and academic skills so they can succeed in a world of rapid and constant change.
BIG exists to assist students in developing their agency, efficacy, and passions while gaining valuable real-world and academic skills so they can succeed in a world of rapid and constant change.
Welcome to the Iowa BIG website!
Whether a current or prospective parent or student, an interested educator from Iowa or around the globe, or a community member we know you will find the information and help you are looking for here.
We take our vision to “unleash human potential” very seriously and have a strong belief that learning and performing in context is the best way to both retain and develop one’s knowledge, understanding, and ability to make things happen. We want every student to discover their passions, find their personal strengths, and ultimately recognize that they are the owner/operator of their own learning and future.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to learn more or to inquire about coming to visit us so you can see and experience our work first hand. Thank you for taking the time to see what we do and who we are.
With gratitude,
Dr. Trace Pickering
Co-Founder, Iowa BIG
Iowa BIG is for students and families looking for a different learning experience and/or wishing to enhance or add to their current high school experience.
Iowa BIG is a public school program operated by the Cedar Rapids Community School District.
Iowa BIG’s entry requirement is straightforward: You must be a student at one of the Cedar Rapids high schools and you and/or your parent(s) must want this sort of learning environment. Since it is a public school program, students can attend BIG at no cost as a part of their high school schedule.
Iowa BIG allows students to earn credits in English, Social Studies, and Business. Students learn the standards and the all-important “21st Century Skills” through working on projects and in project teams developing initiatives they care about and are interested in. From conducting research and giving presentations to their community or business partners to composing professional correspondence, students get to experience what these content areas look like in real-life situations. For standards they don’t experience in projects, teachers conduct “seminars” which mirror the college experience where classes are held periodically and students are expected to work on their own in between.
Iowa BIG was created by the Cedar Rapids/Marion community in the years following the 2008 flood. Chuck Peters, then CEO of the Gazette Companies, commissioned Dr. Trace Pickering to create conversations that might help the community move towards new learning models.
Pickering and his colleague, Shawn Cornally, launched “The Billy Madison Project,” sending a diverse group of community members back to school as students and then engaging them in a conversation about school.
60 community members participated, representing the face of the community. During the participant’s experience they discovered:
After brainstorming the list of things they believed a person needed to be successful –– collaboration, working in diverse groups, communicating effectively in a variety of ways, dealing with issues that didn’t have easy answers, failing forward, etc. –– they developed a vision for a school environment that would deliver on the things they wanted.
They developed 3 themes from which to design a school experience:
At the conclusion of this project, the College Community and Cedar Rapids school districts stepped up to provide resources and a “sandbox” from which to begin building the program. Iowa BIG, which teaches kids core academics and 21st century skills through authentic projects with community partners, was born in 2012.
Iowa BIG now provides this unique, 21st century learning environment to any student interested in the Cedar Rapids Community School District. The 24-25 school year will be Iowa BIG’s 12th year. Over that time BIG has served over 1,500 students that have completed hundreds of projects for area business, non-profit, and government agencies, making real impacts on our community. Over that time BIG has won a $1,000,000 award from the XQ Super School Project, been visited by over 600 educators from across the country, and has appeared in numerous books, articles, blogs, and podcasts. BIG is routinely pointed to as one example of what 21st century high school learning can look like.
Find out more about what we believe about teaching, learning, and human development.
Students with high GPAs and strong test scores can leverage BIG to enhance and round-out their resumes. BIG students routinely gain access to selective colleges and scholarships because they have honed a strong personal mission statement and have a powerful and unique story to tell about the impact they have made on themselves and others. Combined with their stellar achievements in their traditional high school, BIG students stand out from the thousands of other students with similar GPAs and activities. Community involvement is a huge highlight when writing scholarships and you are able to create those opportunities at BIG.
By the time students reach high school, many have lost the spark that once made learning exciting. Often, they’re simply trying to “gut it out” for a few more years. Iowa BIG offers a different path – one where learning feels meaningful again.
For students who love to design, build, and make things with their hands and minds, our real-world problem-solving environment reignites curiosity. BIG gives students the freedom to create, experiment, and tackle authentic challenges, helping them rediscover their passions and a genuine love of learning.
Students who are college and career-focused want learning that actually prepares them for the future. Iowa BIG offers exactly that. Through real-world projects, community partnerships, and student-driven learning, BIG helps students build communication skills, leadership, resilience, and initiative. They gain experiences colleges value and the practical skills employers expect. BIG is where future-ready students grow.