WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Wichita State University's Innovation Campus is celebrating 10 years in 2024. What used to be a golf course is now one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, full of research centers, labs, and makerspaces. "Wichita State University has grown up from what you might call just a traditional academic institution and really has thrown those boundaries wide open," WSU program manager for trademarks and branding Catherine Bitting said. The WSU Innovation Campus is home to nearly a dozen companies. There are nearly 50 partnerships with companies around the globe that offer students an applied learning experience. "The thought process was to not have this really be a castle on a hill of academia, but to have an intersection of public use, public institution and global business and innovation, and that's really what has sprung up here over the last 10 years," Bitting said. Bitting says WSU students have a lot of opportunities at their fingertips. How a Kansas town found itself at the center of the abortion debate "You'll see actually a lot of this in the news currently where you have this focus on students who are not looking for just a degree to hang on a wall, but an actual, tangible education and experience that will land them a place in the job world as soon as they step across that stage and get that diploma," Bitting said. "We've become not just a local university any longer, but we really are a national focal point." Through the innovation campus, companies and students have a symbiotic relationship. "Being able to have them really work with, mentor, coach, and employ our students who are then formed and get that experience, that hands-on learning in these various fields and various areas and then really come out as a formed pipeline for those partners and beyond," Bitting said. "You come in, you can be a student, and you can try out one or two different things. And maybe what you try first is not what you fall in love with, but maybe that's a stepping stone to get you into that next field that you didn't even know existed." Chiefs RB Pacheco suffered fractured fibula: report Emmett Thompson is a senior at WSU and says the innovation campus has shown him that anything is possible. "I think this is helping me in my future to be successful by allowing me to use what I'm learning in class in real-time," Thompson said. "It's pretty lucrative to be able to do that early on, so you can kind of navigate what you like and don't like. So you don't have to wait until you graduate and get into a career to be like, this is not what I want. So I think opportunities like this is what has allowed me to weigh my options to find my likes and dislikes so I can have more of a pathway for my future in my career." Sam Oeding was drawn to WSU because of the applied learning opportunity. "The opportunities are really endless for anyone, and just being able to go out and pursue it," Oeding said. "And if you dedicate yourself fully to something, the things that you can learn and the experiences that you can have are just incredible. I've already been exposed to so much information that, a year ago, I would have never even thought that I would've had the opportunity to learn." At his previous college, work and school were separate. "As a student, I'm getting paid to apply what I learn, and it's going to set me up for a job in the future," Oeding said. He is learning about AI, smart machines and the basics of professionalism. "Being able to go to an interview or even something as simple as sending an email to a superior who you haven't connected with, those are opportunities that you don't really recognize that you need until you've been in the real world," Oeding said. "This campus so far, I've already been exposed to all that, and it's preparing me for things like that."