Jasper Group launches Cypher Academy for three high school students

Three Jasper High School students walked into Jasper Group’s inaugural Cypher Academy on Thursday with equipment, company swag and a direct look at the skills a major Dubois County manufacturer wants to cultivate next.

The new program is built as a technology-focused internship, giving the first cohort hands-on exposure to artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and business operations. For Jasper Group, the launch is less a ceremonial visit than an attempt to build an early pipeline from Jasper High School into jobs and college pathways tied to the county’s manufacturing economy.

That pipeline matters in Jasper, where Jasper Group traces its history to 1876 and says it now operates as a family of nearly 1,000 employees across more than 2.3 million square feet of office spaces, lumberyards and mill rooms in Dubois and Orange counties. The company’s brands include JSI and Klem, and its business reaches education, corporate, dining and government customers. A program aimed at students in Jasper High School could help the company identify local talent before those students look elsewhere for technical training or work.

Jasper Group Chairman and CEO Mike Wagner gives the effort added weight inside the regional workforce conversation. Conexus Indiana describes Wagner as actively involved in workforce development and industry leadership, and his company’s launch of Cypher Academy fits that broader emphasis on building talent from within Indiana rather than importing it later.

The timing also lines up with a wider state push toward digital careers. The Indiana Cybersecurity Hub has said its workforce strategy starts with K-12 students, while the Indiana Commission for Higher Education has opened Education Readiness Grants for programs that include cybersecurity and software development. Jasper High School, which serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation, already gives students access to career and technical education through the Patoka Valley Career and Technical Cooperative.

That makes Cypher Academy a test of how much more local industry can do inside an existing career-prep system. Jasper Group’s broader family already has experience with student pathways through JASPER Engines & Transmissions, which promotes internships, career-specific internships, summer production work, after-school programs and a sales trainee program.

The first class is small, but the stakes are larger than three students. If Cypher Academy leads to internships, postsecondary training or eventual hires, it could become a model for how Dubois County keeps more of its tech talent close to home, and how other employers may decide to start recruiting sooner.