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Triple Win Waco has expanded at the former Khoury Inc. cabinet factory on Webster Avenue.
James Scott, 12, left, and Kayshev Kadakia, 11, work on a computer-controlled engraving tool at Triple Win Waco.
A mecca of mechanical know-how and business start-ups is emerging in South Waco, just blocks from the tourist magnet of Magnolia Market.
On any given day, a former cabinet factory at 1211 Webster Ave. hums with teenagers who are welding, screen-printing, building a food trailer, programming laser cutters or studying for technical certifications in food safety, small business or Photoshop.
This is the home of Triple Win Waco, an initiative created on a shoestring by Rapoport Academy four years ago. Now it is coming into its own with an expanded campus, additional funding, growing enrollment and partners including the Waco, La Vega, Connally and Lorena school districts.
The initiative this spring expanded into the largest building of the former Khoury Inc. complex, bringing its usable space to more than 30,000 square feet.
Officials will continue building out the space and add programs in the next two months with a $350,000 Texas Education Agency grant approved in June, said Clay Springer, Triple Win Waco director and career and technology director at Rapoport.
Springer said within a few years he aims to serve 500 to 700 students per year in a space that is serving about 80 in the current summer trimester.
Triple Win is creating a makerspace with high-tech equipment such as CNC routers, 3D printers and more conventional tools, with plans to open it to the public by the first of next year.
The vision is an incubator for start-up businesses, both for youth and adults.
“Within two or three years we want to see student-led businesses alongside entrepreneurs from the community in our environment,” Springer said.
In the meantime, other partners keep lining up to use the Triple Win space. McLennan Community College this summer is offering “maker” camps for intermediate and middle-school students using Triple Win staff.
Natalie Ward, left, guides Ila Witt, 10, with a Father’s Day silk screen project as part of a McLennan Community College maker camp at Triple Win Waco.
Creative Waco has claimed a part of the building for its Artprenticeship program, which will begin work on a mural for the building in the coming week.
Space has also been reserved for Upskill Waco, a job training program for adults ages 18 to 24, supported by the city of Waco, Prosper Waco, the Cooper Foundation, Texas State Technical College and MCC.
Triple Win Waco is also planning in the near future to create a cafe and food truck in front of the building on Webster Avenue.
But the heart of the sprawling enterprise is hands-on training for local high school youth in career and technical education. They are able to earn certifications and get paid for work on projects for local businesses. Those who earn their small business and entrepreneurship certifications can access $1,000 in start-up capital to create their own small businesses, such as mobile food sales.
Lorena High School graduate C.L. Fry wires a food truck commissioned by Dave’s Burger Barn at Triple Win Waco.
C.L. Fry, 18, who graduated from Lorena High School this spring, is among the crew working on a food truck for Dave’s Burger Barn, which involves fitting it out with sheet metal and appliances. On a recent afternoon, on break from wiring the truck, he said the certifications he is getting from the programs will make him more employable in the short term and will help prepare him for earning a degree in computer engineering at Texas A&M University.
“I’m looking at working on hardware for computers, so this is going to be really good experience for that,” Fry said. “It’s a good work environment. There are lot of good people to work with here.”
Meanwhile, Rapoport seniors Mikayla Lee and Rafael Peña were finishing up their small business and entrepreneurship certifications, which involve exams proctored by the center’s staff.
Peña, 19, said he is already putting that knowledge to work as he builds a vending machine business. He already owns four machines and plans to install one at Triple Win.
“Having that certification makes me seem that I know what I’m doing,” he said. “They helped me understand the margin on snacks, which ones I was losing money on and which were doing all right.”
James Scott, 12, left, and Kayshev Kadakia, 11, work on a computer-controlled engraving tool at Triple Win Waco.
Peña said he may go on to automotive and welding programs in college, with a goal of creating an automotive business. He has already renovated an old BMW, fixing brakes and suspension and converting it to a manual transmission.
Lee, 17, discovered an interest in welding through the program and is continuing it through a dual-enrollment course at Texas State Technical College.
“I started off with this program because I wanted more real-world experience,” she said. “I ended up falling in love with welding and small business.”
Lee is hoping to study biomedical engineering at Texas A&M and perhaps go on to help develop new artificial organs.
“I’m honestly not sure,” she said. “I’m just really interested in new inventions and helping people.”
Alex Leyva, a La Vega High School senior, welds the frame of work pods that will be used for a small business incubator at Triple Win Waco.
Triple Win Waco sprouted from a one-off collaboration in 2018 between Springer and entrepreneur Cory Dickman, whose ventures include Waco Axe Co., Rogue Media, Waco Escape Rooms, Waco Pedal Tours and others. Dickman is now an instructor and makerspace coordinator for Triple Win.
When the electric vehicle Waco Pedal Tours was using for downtown tours broke down before spring break, Dickman hired Springer’s team of four mechatronics students at Rapoport to repair it.
“He fixed it and it was great,” Dickman said. “And then he comes back and is like, ‘Have y’all ever thought about doing another one?’ They’re like 70,000 bucks brand new, and it’s really hard to find them because you have to go through these different channels.
“He said, ‘I think we can build you one, at like, half the cost.’ And I said, nope, I’m out. This thing is breaking and it’s built by adults and now you’re going to have high school kids do this? But you know, he was persuasive. So we thought if this thing doesn’t work we can probably sell it off.”
Dickman was impressed with the new vehicle, and he commissioned the team, along with Connally students, to fit out a mobile trailer for his new ax-throwing company.
The venture moved on to building its own food truck, which is available for young Triple Win entrepreneurs to rent out.
East Waco Innovative School Development, the parent nonprofit of Rapoport Academy, established the Triple Win program, named for its benefits to students, schools and businesses.
Triple Win Waco has expanded at the former Khoury Inc. cabinet factory on Webster Avenue.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on the venture, but it continued on a limited basis in 2020, moving in to part of the Khoury building.
“This summer, we kind of feel like we’re back on the pace were were on back in 2020, when we were adding more schools on,” Dickman said. “This is the year.”
Dickman and Springer said there seems to be no end of student demand for the program, and now that they have adequate space, it is just a matter of getting the staffing, equipment and funding to continue to grow.
Dickman, who has two degrees from Baylor University, said the demand shows the need for alternatives to the conventional approach to education and career.
“For students who don’t feel the pressure to get a four-year liberal arts degree and graduate with $180,000 in loans, I would rather say, way don’t you come here?” Dickman said. “Let’s get you on a path of entrepreneurship or mechatronics and you go down that pathway and by the time you’re 24 or 25 you might be doing that thing you love, making good money and being happy in what you do.”
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J.B. Smith is the the Tribune-Herald managing editor. A native of Sulphur Springs, he attended Southwestern University and joined the Tribune-Herald in 1997. He and his wife, Bethany, live in Waco and have two children.
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Lorena High School graduate C.L. Fry wires a food truck commissioned by Dave’s Burger Barn at Triple Win Waco.
Natalie Ward, left, guides Ila Witt, 10, with a Father’s Day silk screen project as part of a McLennan Community College maker camp at Triple Win Waco.
Triple Win Waco has expanded at the former Khoury Inc. cabinet factory on Webster Avenue.
James Scott, 12, left, and Kayshev Kadakia, 11, work on a computer-controlled engraving tool at Triple Win Waco.
James Scott, 12, left, and Kayshev Kadakia, 11, work on a computer-controlled engraving tool at Triple Win Waco.
Alex Leyva, a La Vega High School senior, welds the frame of work pods that will be used for a small business incubator at Triple Win Waco.
Triple Win Waco has expanded at the former Khoury Inc. cabinet factory on Webster Avenue.
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