What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

Electrical Student Wins Maverick Scholarship

At a presentation held on Wednesday, March 11 in the PLC lab, Cody Hager was awarded the Maverick Technologies Scholarship.

Maverick Technologies is a next-generation engineering, systems integration and operational consulting firm. With their world headquarters located in Columbia, Ill., Maverick is a long-time friend of the College and has six Ranken graduates currently employed. They are looking to add three or four more people to their staff of over 600.

Each semester Maverick provides a $1,500 scholarship will to a student enrolled in Ranken’s EAT program. “We see a great fit with the caliber of graduates we have hired and this is why we want to continue to support students in the electrical program at Ranken. The students we support may some day be employees.”

Hager is double majoring in EAT and CST and plans to graduate in December 2009. He is currently a full-time day student and a student worker at Ranken.

“Ranken not only gives us knowledge about our field but also teaches us responsibility and work ethic,” said Hager. “These traits have helped push me forward toward a great career. I really appreciate this gift from Maverick Technologies. It will help me pay for my tuition next semester.”

(www.mavtechglobal.com)

Electrical Student Wins James W. French/French Gerleman Scholarship

In a ceremony held on Wednesday, March 18, Adam Sheppard was awarded the James W. French/ French Gerleman Scholarship. Bill French, President of French Gerleman, presented the award to Sheppard.

French Gerleman is the region’s leading supplier of profit-boosting

electrical, automation, datacom and power transmission products and services to industrial, commercial and construction markets. The scholarship is named after Bill’s father who started the company.

“French Gerleman is proud to support students seeking higher education, especially those in pursuit of an electrical technology career,” said French.

“We believe it is important to provide financial assistance to promising students and do our part to help build a stronger, more educated workforce.”

Sheppard, a resident of Bethalto, Ill., was selected as the
scholarship recipient because of his excellent academic record and
work ethic. “I am very grateful to Mr. French and French Gerleman for this scholarship. This is a great opportunity that they offer to EAT students and I feel honored to have been selected. This scholarship will help pay my student loans for this semester,” said Sheppard.

Each year since 2005, the James W. French/French Gerleman Scholarship has awarded $1,500 to a Ranken student in the EAT program.

(www.frenchgerleman.com)

Ranken's Automotive Program Finalist in School of the Year Contest

In late 2008, “Tomorrow’s Technician” magazine teamed up with Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company to create the 2009 Tomorrow’s Technician School of the Year award. The intent of the contest is to honor the best automotive school in the country. The contest was open to all schools with automotive, heavy-duty or collision repair curriculum.

There were more than 130 entries submitted that nominated more than 60 different high schools, technical schools and colleges. In late January, Ranken was notified the College had made it to the second round of the contest. For the second part of this process, instructors were asked to provide additional information about their school and their automotive program.

Some of the information they provided included the teacher/student ratio, graduation percentage, community service, special projects, scholarships for underprivileged students, job placement percentage, types of programs offered, number of instructors and which ASE certifications they hold, and any awards or recognitions they may have received.

The judges also required one letter of recommendation from a current student, a parent of an automotive student and the school’s principal or director/administrator.

The winning school will be announced in April, along with the three runner-up schools from the remaining regions. An article on the winning school will be featured in the May issue of Tomorrow’s Technician. In addition to nationwide recognition for a job well done, the 2009 School of the Year will receive a Chicago Pneumatic School of the Year flag and shop banners, plus Chicago Pneumatic tools, wearables and other prizes. Four regional prizes will be awarded, with the Grand Prize winner earning additional prizes and awards.

The following schools moved to the second round of judging:

Northwest

• Arapohoe Community College, Littleton, CO
• College of Eastern Utah, Price, UT
• Ramona High School, Ramona, CA
• Butler Community College, El Dorado, KS
• Smoky Hill High School, Smoky Hill, CO

Southeast

• Gwinnett Technical College, Lawrenceville, GA
• Chipola College, Marianna, FL
• Muscle Shoals Center for Technology, Muscle Shoals, AL
• Piedmont Technical College, Greenwood, SC
• Haney Technical Center and High School, Panama City, FL

Northwest

• Renton Technical College, Renton, WA
• Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technology Center, Milwaukie, OR
• Shoreline Community College, Seattle, WA
• Western Wyoming Community College, Rock Springs, WY
• Estacada High School, Estacada, OR

Northeast

• North Montco Technical Career Center, Landsdale, PA
• Southern Illinois University (Automotive Technology), Carbondale, IL
• Automotive Training Center, Exton, PA
• Ranken Technical Collage, St. Louis, MO
• Ohio Technical College, Cleveland, OH
• Old Bridge High School, Matawan, NJ 

Congratulations to our automotive division and good luck in the finals! For more information about this contest, visit www.tomorrowstechnician.com.

CARSTAR to bring Make-a-Wish Vehicle to Ranken's Annual Car Show

Metro St. Louis CARSTAR locations will sponsor a “Buy a Puck, Empty the Truck” promotion at the annual Ranken Car Show on Sunday, April 19, 2009. Participants can purchase one of 500 St. Louis Blues-branded pucks from the bed of a “tricked out” 1998 Chevy S-10 pickup, a wish CARSTAR granted for a local teen in August 2008. Proceeds will benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri. David Backes of the St. Louis Blues will be in attendance, pending possible playoff scheduling. 

 

The promotion will last from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in a specially designated CARSTAR section. CARSTAR will showcase two noteworthy vehicles – the Make-A-Wish “tricked out” truck and the CARSTAR Super’Stang. Matt, the wish recipient, will be in attendance to show off his vehicle.

The CARSTAR Super’Stang is a recreation of the 1967 Mustang, known for its powerful engine and legendary status. The CARSTAR Super’Stang has toured the country for the past 18 months on the CARSTAR Super’Stang Muscle Tour, benefiting Make-A-Wish.

Happy Birthday!

Hi Everyone!

Your Ranken Dorm Mom is back! We have been excited about Spring Break which is right around the corner. This semester, students will not be in the dorm for Spring Break. Although it is only for a week we have been working hard in classes and in the office. I think we can all stand a short break.

Walker Hall residents have a Hall Meeting once per month and today was the day! This time is used to update students on the policies and other news going on in the hall. We also use this time to celebrate!

We celebrated birthdays for January, February and March! There was a huge cake thanks to Fresh Ideas (campus food service). Residents were so surprised! Here are a few pictures I wanted to share.

We have more events coming so feel free to check on us often!

 

Alumni Spotlight

John Killingsworth
PMT 1986 & BSAM 2007

When John Killingsworth graduated from high school, he had dreams of heading off to California for a career in the arts. His father had another idea of where he thought he should be heading. Due to the reputation and work ethic, his father had one request, “Give me two years at Ranken.”  Killingsworth agreed and decided to enter the Precision Machining Technology program. He still remembers his first week of school and thinking “this is really cool.” He graduated from the PMT program in 1987 and went to work at Boeing as a tool maker making tools for production aircraft. He stayed there for eight years then moved into a company position doing tool fabrication estimates. He then moved into the F-18 program and was responsible for process improvements associated with quality and cycle time reductions. By applying 6 Sigma processes and calculating process capabilities, Killingsworth was involved with getting an understanding of inherent variation in the build process and using advanced technologies with laser measurement to measure and validate assembly variation to predict problems before they occurred. This position gave him his first involvement in process improvement.

Hall Manager (House Mom) Intro

Hello! I wanted to take some time to introduce myself. I am LaTrina Rogers, Hall Manger of Walker Hall. If you read Jeremy Sutton's update you would have heard just a bit about me. I work in the Admissions Department full time for Ranken as an Admissions Counselor and Community Relations Liaison. My job involves people, which is why I enjoy my job.

The new position at Walker Hall is something that is unexpected but a great opportunity. I love to cook as Jeremy mentioned in his entry. The students have had the benefit of my passion for the culinary arts. Home baked cookies are my specialty.

My goal is to create a community where all students feel comfortable and realize their growth as it is happening. I am a bit goofy at times because I enjoy life. I also like to take care of business and make sure our students learn how to handle challenges with ease.

You will hear more from me and hopefully at a decent hour f the day. I am up late to play catch up on a few projects. I also have some students up playing video games in the lounge. They say they are not sleepy. We will wait until dinner and see how they feel.

~LaTrina Rogers

 

Jams for Jason

On Wednesday, March 4, 2009 the family of Walker Hall joined together to support our Resident Assistant, Jason. Jason Kelts is a mixed martial artist who was scheduled to compete in a match on Friday, March 6, 2009. There was music, food and great times. There was also a ticket to the match up for the taking. A ticket was purchased by The Hall Manager for a drawing! AJ won the golden ticket!

Friday was the big night. There were several students who attended to support Jason. The report at 9:10 pm was Jason won! He dominated his opponent and the match was stopped in the first round!

The family of Walker Hall is s proud of Jason!

   

 

 

Dorm Update for March 2009

This is my first blog entry for Residential Life at Ranken.  I will do my best to send out a monthly update on how things are going over here at Walker Hall.  I'm happy to say that we have 30 residents living in the dorm this semester.  This group of residents is historic given the fact that there has never been on-campus housing at Ranken until now. 

In addition to our residents, we have two live-in staff members.  The first is Jason Kelts, who is a fourth semester IT student.  Jason is our Resident Assistant and is scheduled to graduate this May.  Jason is also an MMA fighter and plans on joining the Air Force after graduation.  Our second live-in staff member is LaTrina Rogers.  LaTrina is an Admissions Counselor & Community Relations Liaison, in addition to her role as Hall Manager of the dorm.  LaTrina loves to cook when she has time and our residents have definitely helped themselves to her culinary skills.  Both LaTrina & Jason have been doing an outstanding job keeping things running smoothly over here.

This month we will be talking about the reapplication process with our current residents and hosting Resident Assistant information sessions.  We hope to fill two RA positions for next school year.

Looking forward to next academic year, we have received close to 20 applications from prospective and newly enrolled students requesting housing for next academic year, and we hope that a majority of our current residents will be returning to the dorm as well. 

Thanks for reading.

-Jeremy Sutton

Ranken Announces New President - Stan Shoun Brings Workforce Development, Engineering Background to College

Ranken Technical College is pleased to announce that it has selected Stan Shoun, Vice President of Workforce Development and Continuing Education for Central Virginia Community College, as its new president. Shoun brings a background of military service, a degree in aeronautical engineering and a long career in technical education to the position.

Embarking on a second career in education after retiring from the US Navy in 1996, Shoun has been with Central Virginia Community College (CVVC) in Lynchburg, Va., since 2001, and also served as that college’s Dean of Math, Science and Engineering. In his time at CVVC Shoun oversaw four satellite campuses, and led in the establishment of two additional satellite campuses and numerous new classes and associate degree programs.

Before CVVC, Shoun served as the director of the A. Linwood Holton Governor's School in Southwest Virginia, providing oversight for the day-to-day operations of a virtual school for gifted and talented students. The school provided math, science and engineering classes to 38 high schools in 12 school districts in Southwest Virginia.

Shoun holds a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) from East Tennessee State University, where he majored in political science, public administration and education. He is also a graduate of the Naval War College where he studied political science and international affairs.

Retiring President Ben Ernst said of Shoun, “After a lengthy search and conversations with a well-qualified pool of both internal and external candidates, Stan emerged as the best choice to develop a strategic plan for the College, explore new opportunities, get people involved and lead Ranken to continued growth.”

“I deem it a great honor to be selected to lead an institution whose very core mission is so vital to not only the careers of so many young people; but to this nation’s economic recovery as well.” said Shoun. He will assume his new duties at the College in mid-May. 

 Since 1907, Ranken Technical College has served the St. Louis region by providing skilled labor through hands-on, state-of-the-art training in a variety of technical disciplines.  Ranken prepares students for successful careers in their chosen technical fields by placing emphasis on technical training, general education and professionalism.  The College offers Associate of Technology and Science degrees in five core divisions—Automotive, Construction, Electrical, Information Technology and Manufacturing, as well as Bachelor of Science degrees in Architectural Technology and Applied Management. Ranken is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.  For more information about Ranken Technical College, visit www.ranken.edu or call 1-866.4RANKEN.