What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

RCDC Program Wins National Award

Recognizing a need for housing in the community it serves, Ranken established the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC) in April 1994. The program combines the technical skills of its students and faculty with the need for affordable housing, enhancing North St. Louis City's neighborhoods.

Through the RCDC and their required curriculum, students receive hands-on experience in the construction and renovation of single-family homes. The non-profit organization has built more than 50 homes to date. For each house, students and faculty members from Architecture, Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical and HVACR use their skills to build houses in the neighborhoods surrounding the College. Once the houses are completed, they are sold at affordable prices. Proceeds are then used to build more homes and involve future students in home building projects.

The program has evolved over the past 17 years and has had to grow and change along with advancements in construction and technology. Just as most business and industries are looking at ways to become more "green," RCDC continues to look for more environmentally-friendly building techniques.

The program has started participating in Energy Star home inspections by Applied Science Energy Ratings (ASERusa) in order to learn how to build more energy efficient homes.

"We started participating in these inspections for many reasons," said John Wood, vice president for student success. "One is that in the long run it saves our future home owners money to heat and cool their home. It is also a great learning tool for our students who will be able to go out into the work force with this knowledge and potentially teach their employer these new building techniques. Overall, it's just the right thing to do."

This past year, RCDC has continued to stay up-to-date on the latest energy efficient building techniques. The program has started using advanced framing techniques that involves two-foot framing centers, which minimizes material usage and waste. On one of the homes being built this year, RCDC used a product called the Superior Walls System, which are precast concrete walls made with steel rebar, making them stronger than traditional foundations. The walls, which come pre-insulated and include features like built-in accesses for wiring and small plumbing, stud facing for easy drywall installation and custom openings for windows and doors, are more energy efficient, sustainable and environmentally-friendly. RCDC has also started using the ZIP System roof sheathing and wall sheathing, which are structural panels with built-in protective overlays that eliminate the need for housewrap or felt forever. Siding and roof covering can be installed directly on top of the panels.

In recognition of their innovation and the use of cutting-edge technology, Ranken's RCDC program was recently awarded the 2012 Outstanding Technical Program Award from the American Technical Education Association (ATEA). The award will be presented at their National Conference on Technical Education held in Biloxi, Mississippi at the end of March.

ATEA promotes the advancement of postsecondary technical education and the intent of this award is to recognize an outstanding technical program at a postsecondary technical education institution anywhere in the U.S.

Congratulations to all of our students, staff and faculty who have made this award possible!

ESDT Students Visit Sargent & Lundy's Chicago Office

On January 5, Larry Sisson, ESDT instructor and 15 of his students took the train to Chicago, Ill. to visit the offices of Sargent and Lundy, a long-time supporter of Ranken. The students were invited by the company to visit and go through an interview and testing process in order to be considered for job openings within the company.

Sargent & Lundy provides comprehensive consulting, engineering, design, and analysis for electric power generation and power delivery projects worldwide. The company has offered full -time technician positions to 10 of the students who interviewed. As a technician, the students will assist company engineers. Eight will be relocating to Chicago and two to Tennessee.

"We can’t thank Sargent and Lundy enough for giving our students the opportunity to visit and apply for job openings," said John Wood, vice president for student success.

 

Beck Receives Scholarship from MVTAP

Pictured: Back row L-R: Ken Neuman (South Tech instructor); John Heltebrand (Ranken ACR instructor and division head); Mike Kuechler (Lewis & Clark instructor); Ron Reiling (AASP executive director); Ken Kohnen (Snelson Collision Repair) and Mark Bennick (North Tech instructor). Front L-R: Mike Croker (Automotive Technology, Inc.); Gene Slattery (Automotive Technology, Inc.): Katie Beck (ACR student) and Dan Shymanski (State Farm Insurance).

The Metro Vocational-Technical Assistance Program (MVTAP) was started in 2004 with the intention to professionally advise and assist vocational-technical collision programs in the Metropolitan St. Louis Area. The program is currently made up of 20 members who are all associated with AASP-Missouri, local body shops, insurance companies or collision suppliers or vendors.

MVTAP strives to collect and distribute donations (such as scholarships) with the intention of raising the quality of education and training for students to better prepare them to enter the collision repair industry. MVTAP provides $6,000 in scholarships each year to students graduating from North and South Technical high schools and Lewis and Clark Career Center. The scholarships can be used at any post-secondary technical school but are matched if they choose to attend Ranken.

Along with providing scholarships, MVTAP offers support by providing financial assistance to Skills USA membership dues for students, assisting with the Regional SkillsUSA competition held at Ranken, sponsoring Ranken’s annual car show and serving on the high schools’ advisory boards to guide to programs with expertise in the industry and by suggesting equipment needs and curriculum. MVTAP host an annual Golf Tournament to help raise funds to support their program’s mission.

On Tuesday, January 17, members of MVTAP meet in Ranken’s CARSTAR room located in the Rodenheiser building to discuss plans for 2012 and to present a $2,000 scholarship check to Katie Beck, an ACR student. Beck is a graduate of Lewis and Clark Career Center and is in her second semester in Ranken’s collision repair program. Beck was also awarded a $2,000 scholarship in August which was matched by Ranken and added to the scholarships she earned from the College for placing first in the Regional and State SkillsUSA competitions.

"Katie was selected for one of the scholarships this year for many reasons," said Ron Reiling, executive director of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers and member of MVTAP. "She presented herself well and interviewed very well. After five minutes we knew this young lady was going some where in the collision business. She has great skills to go along with her great personality."

 

2012...A New Start

Happy 2012 to all!

Well, our spring semester has gotten into full swing and things are going well. We currently have 102 residents in Walker Hall. Our residents are working and playing hard. We have tons of new things going on and we are excited!

January was filled with planning, reminders and get to know you sessions. February is filled with diversity programs. Resident Assistant, Kory Wagner is starting the "My Room is Hate Free" Campaign, Resident Assistant, Shelby Snider is teaching tolerance and there will be a Civil Rights to Human Rights Movie Week. We can't forget our goofy events such as The Ramen Rumble (best ramen recipe), Brain Teasers, Valentine Bash (anti V-Day) and Stress Relief.

We have opened applications for the Resident Assistant positions for 2012-2013. There will be information session about these positions.

Ehrhardt Tool & Machine Company Employees Donate to Community Care Center

Ehrhardt Tool & Machine Company, Inc., recently completed their fourth annual food drive and delivered 10,035 food items and five pallets of clothing and household items to the Community Care Center in Granite City, Ill. This tool, die and special machine company with only 105 employees, conducted the food drive over a two week period and collected cash and food donations valued at over $5,000 from Ehrhardt employees.

"Our employees show their generosity every year and make this drive a huge success. They work hard to support their own families and know that others are still in need so they provide a helping hand to this community center," said Bob Roseman, president of Ehrhardt.

The employees formed teams and competed for the top spot with captain’s nicknames of Souperman, Soup Czar, Can Man and Soupenator. They got generous help from the local Schnuck’s and Wal-Mart in securing discount prices on food products that they purchased in bulk.

Debra Homyer, Community Care Center Manager, accepted the donation on behalf of the food pantry. "We are in such need. Our shelves were getting empty and when they showed up with the truck loaded down with cans of soup and clothing, we almost couldn’t believe it. We have come to rely on Ehrhardt’s annual drive to push us through the holidays and it will make a real difference right into the spring. These employees really care about others and it is a wonderful gift," Homyer said.

The Community Care Center began helping the local community in 1953 and now serves hundreds of families, individuals and children within the Quad Cities area who are in need of food, clothing, or special assistance.

Ehrhardt Tool & Machine Company has been a long time supporter of the College and also awards an annual scholarship to a Ranken student in the Precision Machining program.

"We are really proud to be associated with Ehrhardt," said Ken Meyer, Ranken’s director major gifts and planned giving. "They are a great company and obviously have very generous employees. They set an example in their community and we love when our graduates are able to work for a company like this."