What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

Fall 2010 Exceptional Ambassador Award is Presented To....

Recently the Officer Council of the Student Ambassador program asked members, faculty and staff to nominate ambassadors who they believed were exceptional over the past semester. The following ambassadors were nominated for the award:

- Anthony Doss (Electrical)                       

- Dennis Smith (Industrial Technology

- Brandon Flowers (Information Technology

- Asheligh Tepen (Automotive Maintenance)

- Kris Raines (Information Technology)

- Levi Cunningham (Precision Machining)

- Abdulah Matteuzzi (HVACR)

- Jacob Siemer (Industrial Technology)

- Tamara Trotman (Information Technology

- Cole Johnson (Information Technology)

- Matthew Warnecke (Precision Machining Technology)

- Eric Heckman (Architecture)

- Corey Bechtold (Electrical)

 
Congratulations to Dennis Smith who was presented with the Fall 2010 Exceptional Ambassador Award!

Smith is a second year Industrial Technology student, a member of Student Government, a student worker for Buildings and Grounds, president of Phi Theta Kappa fraternity and vice-president of the Student Ambassador Officer Council.

S-STEM Students Volunteer With Habitat For Humanity

 
On Saturday, December 11, the S-STEM students volunteered their time to build houses for Habitat for Humanity St. Louis. The houses are located a few blocks away from North Grand and Kingshighway close to downtown St. Louis. Volunteers, which included 10 of the STEM students as well as Missy Borchardt, architecture instructor and team leader of the S-STEM program at Ranken, worked for eight hours hanging nailer boards, blocking, rebuilding walls and other various jobs. They met the home owners along with other volunteers while team building and learning a few things about construction.

Each semester Ranken’s S-STEM students do a minimum of four community leadership hours and many choose to do more than the required number of hours.

S-STEM is a four-year $582,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to award scholarships to students majoring in four technical disciplines - architecture, information technology, precision machining and manufacturing. The grant also provides funding to develop a special enhanced program to help students during their studies at Ranken and prepare them to enter these high-tech fields or enroll in advanced degree programs. These include: faculty and peer mentoring, scholar groups, academic advising and assistance, professional development activities and career services and counseling.

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program was established several years ago by the National Science Foundation and reflects the national need to substantially increase the number of American scientists, engineers and technical experts. To be eligible to receive the scholarships, prospective scholarship students must be a US Citizen, US National, US Permanent Resident or Admitted Refugee who wishes to pursue a degree in one of four chosen STEM related programs at Ranken. Students must demonstrate academic ability/potential and financial need to qualify for one of the scholarships.

 

Walker Hall and Ranken Adopt a Family for the Holidays

To continue Ranken’s long-standing tradition of helping our community, the Walker Hall Resident Hall Association decided to adopt a local family for the holidays. Catholic Charities helped to match them up with a family that consists of a mother, Lawanda and her three daughters, Deyona (1 year),

Dariel (2 years) and Jayla (9 years). Lawanda recently lost her home so the family of four is living in a small apartment in St. Louis.

Residents received a wish list from the family and invited the entire Ranken community to donate items to help make the holiday season special for Lawanda and her girls. Ranken faculty and staff donated toys for the girls and household items to give to Lawanda. On Thursday, December 16 LaTrina Rogers, hall manager and Anthony Doss, one of the resident assistants, delivered the gifts to the family.

"It was so awesome to see the looks on all of their faces when we delivered the gifts," said Rogers. "This has really been an amazing experience for me and all of the residents in Walker Hall."

"I just want to say thank you to everyone at Ranken who helped to make this Christmas so special for my girls," said Lawanda. "I am really overwhelmed by this blessing. Not only did my girls get a lot of wonderful gifts, but I was really surprised by the gifts that had been bought for me."

Annual RankCAN Competition Helps Local Needy

Ranken Students Build 16,700 Donated Food Items into Sculptures

 
(St. Louis, MO) This year Ranken Technical College continued its long-standing tradition of contributing to its surrounding community while educating the next generation of skilled workers by holding its annual RankCAN competition.

Beginning in November, Ranken students, faculty and staff began collecting donated food items. Once the items were collected, students formed teams to begin building sculptures with the food items around the theme, “The Holiday Season.” All sculptures were supposed to represent an object, person, character or concept associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve or Halloween. The teams were judged on their sculpture as well as how many food items they collected. The purpose of the annual food drive and RankCAN creations event is to help feed the hungry in the St. Louis area during the holiday season and to exhibit the technical skills of our students.

 The Industrial Technology and Welding team had the most items collected per student with an average of 71 cans and also won first place in the sculpture competition with their “New Year’s Eve 1907” display.

 In total, Ranken students collected more than 16,700 food products during the drive, which is the largest total number of items collected in the history of the event. Over the last 11 years, the Ranken food drive has resulted in over 81,000 food products being donated throughout the local community and to Ranken students in need.

 “This is a great way to let our students use their hands-on skills in a project which also benefits the local community,” said Jeremy Sutton, direction of residential life at Ranken. “Every year the students are incredibly generous with their time and donations. We know they get a lot out of this experience.”

For more pictures, check out Ranken's Facebook or Flickr pages!

Local Middle-Schoolers Visit Ranken

 
On Monday, December 6, approximately 50 middle-schoolers from Steven’s Middle School located at Finney and Whittier visited campus. Coach Singleton from Steven’s Middle School arranged the visit with John Wood and Phi Theta Kappa president, Dennis Smith. The kids that attended are interested in construction, manufacturing, and automotive departments and were given a tour of the department of their choice. The visit was so successful that next week 20 young girls from Stevens will also take a tour.

Godt Appointed to Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan and Regional Planning

 
Mike Godt, a general education instructor at Ranken, has been appointed member of the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan and Regional Planning Commission. The Commission operates under Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn. The Commission itself is an oversight committee which plans coordinates, and administers intergovernmental agreements on land use, economic development, water supply and sewage disposal, transportation, governmental and social services, and improvement of environmental quality in area within counties of Washington, Bond, Madison, St. Clair, Randolph, Clinton, and Monroe. Mike was appointed by the Governor himself to a term which expires September 30, 2013.

Mike will attend the inaugural event on Monday, January 10 in Springfield, Ill.

 

RankCAN Competition Helps Local Needy

 
Beginning in November, Ranken students, faculty and staff began collecting donated food items to kick off the 2010 Food Drive and RankCAN competition.

Once the items were collected, students formed teams to begin building sculptures with the food items around the theme, "The Holiday Season." All sculptures were supposed to represent an object, person, character or concept associated with one of the holidays occurring during the "holiday season." This could include Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve or Halloween. The teams were judged on their sculpture as well as how many food items they collected. The winners were announced on Monday, December 6.

 

 

 

 

 

» Food Drive

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Industrial Technology (INT) had the highest student-to-food ratio with 71 food items per student. Automotive Maintenance came in close second with 64 food items per student.

 

» RankCAN Sculpture Competition

- First Place was awarded to the

INT/Welding team for their "1907 New Year’s Eve" display

 

 

 

- Third Place was awarded to the Electrical Division for their Christmas tree display.

Thank you to all of the teams that participated in this years event. The 2010 RankCAN competition helped collect more than 16,700 food products, which is the largest total number of food products that have been collected in the history of this drive.

The purpose of the annual food drive and RankCAN creations event is to help feed the hungry in the St. Louis area during the holiday season and to exhibit the technical skills of our students. Over the last 11 years, the Ranken food drive has resulted in over 81,000 food products being donated throughout the local community and to Ranken students in need.

The INT/Welding team will receive a pizza party for winning the sculpture portion of the competition.

 

To see more pictures of the sculpture construction and competition, visit Ranken’s Facebook page!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go-Kart Raffle to Benefit Alumni Assocation Scholarship Fund

Adding to the vast list of scholarships available at Ranken is the new Alumni Association Scholarship Fund. This fund is for use by alumni returning to school, their children and other students who have been referred by Ranken alumni. Rules and guidelines for application are available through the campus Financial Aid office. There will be money from this fund available for the 2012 term. 

In order to support the fund, a NASCAR model go-kart made by middle schoolers at the 2010 Summer Academy Summer Racers Camp will be raffled on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. in the Finney lobby. Four other cash prizes of $250, $100 and (2) $50 will be given away. Raffle tickets will be available for $1 each or 6 for $5. Tickets can be purchased from any member of the Alumni Leadership Council (listed here) or from Kathy Fern in the Alumni Relations office in Walker Hall. The silver go-kart is rated at 25 mph and can be driven by a child of 6 or adult up to 6'2" or 300 lbs. See the attached flyer for more information on the go kart, a $1,750 value Grand Prize.  Download.

 
 
Buy tickets and help us support the scholarship fund. Tickets go on sale in January 2011.

In addition to the raffle, donations to this fund are being accepted at any time. Mark your donation for the "Alumni Assocation Scholarship Fund."

Ranken to Hold Brownfield Cleanup Meeting

Ranken Technical College with the support of a grant from the EIERA is holding a public meeting on the cleanup of a Brownfield (former gas station) site at 4321 Finney Avenue, St. Louis, MO. The analysis of cleanup alternatives and other project information will be available and public comment on the cleanup will be allowed at the meeting.

Where: Ranken Technical College

When: December 22, 2010

Time: 4:00 P.M.

Any requests for a language or hearing-impaired interpreter should be made to EIERA at least one week in advance of the meeting

The analysis of cleanup alternatives and other information regarding the project may be viewed at Ranken Technical College’s Library or online at www.ranken.edu or at the EIERA's offices at 325 Jefferson St., Jefferson City, MO during normal business hours. The analysis of cleanup alternatives may also be viewed at the EIERA's website www.dnr.mo.gov/eiera. Public comment on the cleanup will be accepted until 12/22/2010 and may be submitted in writing to Clean Up Committee/Ranken  4431 Finney Ave St. Louis, MO 63113 or e-mailed to publicnotice@ranken.edu. 

ACR Offers SkillsUSA Preparation Classes

 
Over the next few weeks, the Automotive Collision Repair department will be hosting a series of classes designed to assist students enrolled in local Vocational-Technical programs.

These classes are designed specifically to familiarize the student with areas and skills that will be evaluated during the SkillsUSA district competition. Classes are open to all students whether or not they are going to compete in the competition.

The series began today with classes offered in refinishing and welding. Both were well attended with students from North Technical High School, South Technical High School, Three Rivers and Lewis and Clark.

"We thought offering these classes would be mutually beneficial," said John Helterbrand, who is the instructor for the classes. "We are helping to prepare their students for the upcoming district competition, and this gives Ranken the opportunity to get the best of the best local technical students on campus."

An Estimating and Damage Analysis class will be offered on December 17 and Structural Analysis and Measuring will be offered on January 14, 2011.