St. Vrain Valley Schools has been awarded a $120,000 Innovations in CTE Grant, funded by Perkins V federal funds and administered by the Colorado Community College System (CCCS). The funding will support key upgrades to the Innovation Center with a significant portion dedicated to launching the new state-of-the-art Motion and Performance (MAP) Studio, a program poised to transform how students understand movement, performance, creativity, and data.
The MAP Studio represents the first stage of a long-term effort to empower students to use data to improve their performance – whether they are athletes, dancers, creators, or future healthcare professionals. By combining cutting-edge sensors, motion-capture technology, and immersive creative tools, the studio will provide students with opportunities to explore movements of the human body and showcase how that information can be used to support growth, recovery, precision, and creativity.
The heart of the MAP Studio is an advanced motion-capture system: an array of infrared cameras that track participants. These cameras identify joint positions, record movement patterns, and transform human motion into rich datasets that students can analyze, interpret, and apply. For athletes, this means real-time feedback on technique, helping them refine their form, prevent injury, and better understand how their bodies respond to different training demands. A runner can see how their stride changes over time, a pitcher can analyze their form, and an Exercise Science student at the CETC can provide personalized feedback for an injured athlete and monitor progress during recovery.
For creative performers, the technology unlocks entirely new dimensions of expression. A dancer can see detailed feedback on balance and alignment, while digital artists can export motion-capture data into 3D design software to animate characters, or create immersive virtual experiences. Movements performed in the studio can become the foundation of lifelike avatars, choreographed animations, or interactive storytelling projects.
To further support student athletes and performers, the grant will also fund the purchase of professional athletic-training technologies. These include force plates and jump mats that measure how students land or produce power, GPS monitors that track speed and distance, and velocity-based training tools that help lifters optimize strength development. For younger athletes, these tools offer early insights into proper technique and self-awareness which are skills that will benefit them in the long term for competitive high school programs.
With the support of the Innovations in CTE Grant, the Innovation Center continues to advance as a hub of experiential learning that spans across the entire district. The MAP Studio is an important step towards a future in which every student has access to cutting-edge tools that merge science, creativity, and performance.