By Robert Feeney, Chief Vision Officer, Knowledge as a Service, Inc. (KaaS)  

Knowledge as a Service Inc. (KaaS), the Wichita-based company behind Future Ready, has a mission to equip the next generation with vital employability skills by developing programs that reach students and workers across Kansas. The most recent development of the tournament is its Competency Report which provides real-time scoring and badging on vital behaviors.  

Powered by Ringorang® technology, the Future Ready gamified platform engages students in building key skills like communication, leadership, conflict resolution and reliability—all while earning badges and prizes such as Amazon gift cards. By engaging students in less than three minutes a day throughout the semester, the game reduces the struggle of educators to sustain engagement. It also helps educators develop critical skills to be effective and provides data to show how it is engaging students.    

The work of WSU Tech, Wichita Unified School District 259, and Goodwill Industries of Kansas was formative in testing the efficacy of Future Ready in Kansas. WSU Tech utilized Ringorang® to help local industry leaders like Spirit Aerosystems, Textron Aviation, and Koch Industries. The app enabled a single workforce coordinator to coach over 100 students by focusing on the students who needed it most, without taking their time away from work.   

“It was like an assessment and a coaching platform all in one, but stretched throughout the year,” explains workforce coordinator Josh Huckriede.   

Wichita USD 259 used it to help students prepare and follow up after a job fair, while Goodwill Industries of Kansas, through its NexStep Unlocked program, supported previously incarcerated individuals in earning their GEDs and securing employment. These experiences were crucial in demonstrating Future Ready’s ability to shift behaviors and prepare participants for the workforce.  

Building on this foundation, several Kansas schools and organizations have joined the tournament this year, including Circle High School, Circle USD 375, in Butler County; the schools connected to the Smoky Hill Education Service Center in the Salina area; and the Greater Wichita YMCA’s Job Prep program. Jobs for America’s Graduates in Kansas (JAG-K), led by Chuck Knapp, is expanding its use of Future Ready to support high school graduates in Kansas City through JAG’s 12-month follow-up program. Additionally, Southeast KansasWorks, a workforce agency under the Kansas Department of Commerce which addresses the Emporia region, is using the platform for reskilled employees as part of its state-subsidized on-the-job training program, recognizing that these durable skills are valuable across all professions.  

Kareema Williams, a JAG specialist at North High School in Wichita, has praised the platform for its impact on her students. Williams highlighted how the gamified format kept her students highly engaged and motivated to apply key workplace behaviors. One student even noted that the lessons from Future Ready helped him succeed in a job interview. Her students have been more consistent in checking emails and demonstrating professional behaviors—advancements that are crucial for career readiness. Williams has been celebrated by Future Ready as a trailblazer educator who shared her testimonial on Future Ready’s impact at a national training event in Las Vegas earlier this year.  

The Future Ready platform’s mission is to build and sustain resilience in young people. KaaS, Inc. has made it a priority to ensure that the platform not only develops employability skills but also provides students with the tools they need to maintain mental health and resilience in the face of challenges. This vision is supported through collaborations with Suspenders4Hope, a mental health and suicide prevention program run by Dr. Jessica Provines at Wichita State University, and also with OneRise Health, a behavioral health non-profit in South Central Kansas.  

The platform’s focus on resilience extends to the military. Ringorang® is being applied by OneRise for use at U.S. Air Force bases in Kansas, Arizona, and Florida, helping airmen and guardians build resilience.   

Additionally, the Association of Career and Technical Educators (ACTE), American College Testing (ACT), and Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) USA are using Future Ready at regional and national conferences to showcase its innovative approach to building vital behaviors in students and educators alike. Since expanding into a national game tournament, Future Ready is used by schools and non-profits in six US states and counting—which connects Kansas students to a program that spans the country.  

Brent Lewis, a former financial advisor and leader at The Independent School in Wichita, collaborates with KaaS to enhance the platform’s financial literacy content for students and provide professional development for educators. Co-founder Robert Feeney emphasized, “After years of supporting large employers like IBM, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the USDA in developing vital behaviors in their talent, I saw a need to throw open the doors and welcome new talent who are just preparing for the workforce to discover what employers expect of them.”  

For Kansas career and technical educators, Future Ready offers a turnkey solution to build behaviors that are crucial in any workplace. Aligned with the U.S. Department of Education’s Employability Skills Framework created by the Perkins Collaborative Research Network, the platform provides actionable reports that help educators track student progress while reducing their workload.  

By joining the Future Ready National Game Tournament, educators can equip students with behaviors that make them stand out to any employer—while nurturing resilience and well-being, all in just three minutes a day.  

Contact Robert Feeney, Robert@kaas.guru, for more information about the Future Ready National Game Tournament.