What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

Programs, Football and School...Oh my!

There has been so much going on in Walker Hall. I'm back to give you an update and let you know about some upcoming events!

Residential Life has been busy with programs and activities to provide students with things to do outside the classroom. Walker Hall has had several programs including, Movie Night, Contact Your Track, Who’s Line is it Anyway and of course, Pizza with the President! All were well attended and residents are participating more as the semester pushes along.  Upcoming events include Weekend Warriors (a monthly outing for residents staying on campus during the weekend), A Book Club (led by RHA President, Kory Wagner) and Walker Hall’s favorite…Halloween Week!

Residential Life is also hosting the Intramurals again! Ranken is ready for football! The first games were held on Tuesday, October 20 and the teams were ready to play. Come out and watch some great football every Tuesday and Thursday on the Finney Lawn.

Here are some pictures because Walker Hall loves pictures!!!

 

 
 
  

 
  

 

 
 
 

Campus Visitor

 
Pictured L-R: John Wood, Karlos Ramirez and Janie Summers.

 
On Tuesday, September 13, Karlos Ramirez, the new executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis visited campus. Ramirez met with John Wood, vice president for student success and Janie Summers, director of career services to discuss opportunities to reach the Hispanic population.

"My mission is to improve opportunities for Hispanic businesses to grow and to create economic development opportunities," said Ramirez. "We want to focus on creating a viable workforce for the St. Louis community and really try to connect businesses to the Hispanic market."

A Chicago native, Ramirez most recently was director of the university center and conference services for St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. He was also recently named as one of St. Louis Business Journal’s 2011 Diverse Business Leaders.

 

 

Arrive Alive Brings Simulator to Campus

 
On Monday, September 12, the Arrive Alive Tour spent the day at Ranken educating students and staff about the dangers of driving under the influence and texting while driving.

All students and staff were invited to "drive" a real car while wearing a headset with an integrated graphic interface. All participants first did a practice drive and then chose whether they wanted to "drive under the influence" or text and drive. For the driving under the influance simulation, the goggles on the headset would get slightly distorted and the vision field would narrow. Participants then did a second drive to see how their driving was affected. For the texting while driving simulation, the participant’s cell phone chirped while they were driving, indicating there was an incoming text. They were asked to respond with "I am on my way to class" while maneuvering through traffic and pedestrians crossing the street. Most participants increased their speed and swerved in both simulations and often hit curbs, other vehicles and even pedestrians. Spectators could watch the simulation on large TV monitors.

After the simulation was complete, participants were given a "ticket" describing what laws were broken during the exercise. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.

 

 

Welcome New Part-Time Faculty Members!

» Jeff Annis, General Education – Computer Literacy

» Sajalendu Dey, General Education - Physics

» Jim Funderburk, Electrical – Evenings

» Jason Gremmelsbacher, General Education – Math

» Aram Hamper, IT – Industrial Training

» Amanda Hanson, General Education – English

» Gia Henry, General Education – Math

» Natalia Khanina, General Education – Physics

» Drew Laird, HVAC/R – Evenings

» Theodore Massey, General Education – Math

» Dan Moore, General Education – Computer Literacy

» Jaryd Patton, PMT – Evenings

» Dave Peckham, HVAC/R – Evenings

» Justin Roy, INT - Evenings

Open House Brings Out Dual Enrollment Hopefuls

 
Photo: Kevin Andert, admissions counselor, spoke to potential students and parents about Ranken’s dual enrollment program.

 
Two years ago, Ranken and the St. Louis Public School System (SLPS) formed an exclusive partnership in which qualified students can begin attending classes at Ranken for college credit during their senior year of high school.

Students who qualify for the Dual Enrollment program do not have any out-of-pocket expenses and those who complete a semester of the program during high school will be able to complete an Associate degree at Ranken in three semesters. To be eligible for the program students must be in good academic standing at high school and have ACT scores of 17 or better in math and 13 or better in reading or satisfactory scores on Ranken’s placement test

The program started out only offering three programs but has now expanded to 10 eligible majors (ART, ACR, AMT, EAT, FWT, HVACR, HPRT, INT, IT and PMT).

On the evening of Thursday, September 15, Ranken hosted an open house for current high school students to learn more about the program. Kevin Andert, the admissions counselor assigned to
St. Louis City presented the information at the event and answered questions from potential students and their family members. The event was very well attended with nearly 100 people from 12 different St. Louis Public Schools.

This year Ranken has 15 spots open for students to begin classes in spring 2012. Students are chosen based on meeting the eligibility requirements as well as an interview process.

"We were really excited by the turnout," said John Wood, vice president for student success. "We think this is a really great program and a great opportunity for high school students in the St. Louis Public School System."

Christian Hinton, an AMT student, is scheduled to graduate in December 2011 and would be the first Dual Enrollment student do complete an Associate degree.

Ranken also has a Dual Enrollment program partnership with the Construction Career Center.

 

 

Red Bud Industries Awards Annual Scholarship

 
 
Pictured L-R: Ken Meyer, major gifts director; Stephen Kashycke, admissions counselor; Brent Piel, RBI plant manager; Christopher Johnson-Cross, scholarship recipient; Letitia Johnson-Cross (mother); Jaclyn Johnson-Cross (sister) and Darryl Cross (father).

(St. Louis, MO) As part of the celebration of its 50^th anniversary in 2009, Red Bud Industries in Red Bud, Ill., established a $5,000 annual scholarship to Ranken Technical College. The goal of the scholarship is to help the company remain a leader in their industry by helping the next generation of local students gain the skills necessary to build world class equipment for a global economy. 

The scholarship is awarded annually to a student who has been accepted for admission to Ranken and first preference is given to students who graduate from Red Bud High School or Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School in Evansville, Ill. Awardees must be enrolled full-time in one of the following degree programs: Control Systems Technology, Electrical Systems Design Technology, Electrical Automation Technology, Industrial Technology or Precision Machining Technology. Selection is based on class rank, grades, ACT/SAT scores, high school activities and community involvement.

On August 22, Red Bud Industries presented the 2011 scholarship to Christopher Johnson-Cross of Belleville, Ill.  Johnson-Cross graduated from Belleville East High School in May 2011 and began Ranken’s Electrical Automation Technology Program this fall.

Johnson-Cross is the son of Letitia Johnson-Cross and Darryl Cross of Belleville, Ill.

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Red Bud Industries was started in 1959 by Ken Voges as a small machine shop and has grown into one of the most respected manufacturers of coil processing equipment in the world. The mission of the company is to supply the metal processing industry with equipment of the highest quality, precision and durability that is designed to efficiently and effectively benefit the customer and is manufactured, built and distributed to the pinnacle of perfection by ethical and moral people who proudly stand behind their work. Red Bud Industries equipment can be found in 37 states in the U.S and in 14 other countries around the world. For more information on Red Bud Industries, visit www.redbudindustries.com or call (800) 851-4612.

 

RCDC Using New, More Efficient Foundation

 
The Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC) has two new homes under construction by second-year students in the Carpentry program. The homes, located on Evans Avenue, are part of Phase II of the project known as Sam Moore Estates. The first home’s foundation was poured at the end of last year by students using the typical poured concrete method. The second home, with a slightly smaller floor plan, will have a new type of foundation using the Superior Walls system. Superior Walls are precast concrete walls created in a controlled factory environment customized to fit the blueprints and specifications provided by a builder or architect. The concrete is reinforced with steel rebar, making it stronger than traditional foundations.

"We did some research on this new type of foundation and realized it had a lot of great advantages," said John Wood, vice president for student success. "These walls are more energy efficient which saves the homeowner money in the long run, they are more sustainable and they are also more environmentally friendly than the previous method since they reduce the amount of materials needed to build the home as well as the amount of job site waste."

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, were delivered to the job site on Monday, August 29. The wall panels were set in place by a crane and crew members secured the walls together using a laser-level to ensure they are level and square. Joints were then sealed with special adhesive sealant. The entire process took a matter of hours instead of days spent on a poured foundation.

"We are really excited about this new process," said Bryan Hicklin, Carpentry department head. "Representatives from Superior Walls took the time to be at the installation and talked the students through the entire process. This is really a great learning experience for our students to be able to participate in this new building technique."

For more information on Superior Walls, visit their website at www.superiorwalls.com. To see more photos and videos of the installation, visit us on Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

 

Career Services Host First Fall Employer Breakfast

On Friday, September 9 the Career Services office hosted the first Employer Breakfast event of the fall semester. Companies came from as far away as Columbia, Mo. (3M Company) and Nashville, Ill. (Nascote Industries). Lisa Honorable from the Casino Queen gave a glowing testimony for hiring Ranken graduates. She recommended to the group that they hire Ranken graduates because of their great work ethic, attitude, appearance and general overall disposition. Casino Queen has hired many Ranken graduates in the past. In fact, their current maintenance supervisor is a Ranken graduate. Francis Baird who is a programming & development senior from Sniperdyne attended the event and is also an alumnus.

The next employer breakfast is scheduled for Friday, October 7. Thank you to the following companies that attended today’s event:

» 3M Company

» Casino Queen

» Contegix

» Duke Manufacturing Company

» Extra Help, Inc

» Gateway Service Center

» Graybar Electric Company, Inc.

» Hydromat, Inc

» Insta Credit Automart

» Intelligrated

» Lunar Tool

» Missouri Career Center

» Nascote Industries

» Red Bud Industries

» Schoellhorn-Albrecht Company

» Sniperdyne

» Thomas Truck Repair St. Louis

» Ultimate Staffing Services

» Wilson Manufacturing Company

bioMerieux Site Gets Visit from VP

 
 
Pictured L-R: Grace Bommarito-May, bioMereiux purchasing director and Antonia Santos, vice president of operations and site management for North America.

The off-site work cell for bioMerieux which is located on Ranken’s campus in the Mary Ann Lee Technology Center (MALTC), recently celebrated its one year anniversary. The partnership came about last summer when bioMerieux faced a decision to consider outsourcing the manufacture of assemblies overseas. Stan Shoun proposed that the product could be manufactured at Ranken by student workers and the company agreed so Ranken converted space in the MALTC and created the new Education and Manufacturing Cooperative department. The department is under the charge of Vice President for Education, Don Pohl and the bioMerieux project is being led by faculty member, Vince Holtmann.

Student workers are in charge of the inspection of parts, assembly of the product and testing of functions for the electrical and mechanical components to meet quality standards and the production schedule. In addition to receiving pay as a part-time employee, students also receive Workforce Education college credits for the educational training.

The partnership has been so successful that the site needed additional space. The old INT shop was renovated to allow space for the two new assemblies that were recently added and for future assemblies which are expected to be on line at Ranken by spring 2012. The new room is three times as large as the old space, containing about 2,000 square feet of floor space.

On Friday, September 2, six officials from bioMerieux, Inc. visited campus on to tour the new facility as well as other areas of campus.

"Mr. Santos commented how the assembly and warehouse setup, including signage and markings, had the look and feel of a bioMerieux manufacturing facility," siad Holtmann. "Everyone commented on how impressed they were with the facility and how quickly the area had been converted."

bioMerieux representatives said they continue to be very pleased with the partnership and hope to continue expanding the opportunities with Ranken. They plan to bring Marc Macowiak, bioMerieux’s North American company president, to Ranken for a future tour.

 

 

"Arrive Alive" Interactive Exhibit on Campus Today

The Arrive Alive Tour will spend the day at Ranken on Monday, September 12, educating our students and staff about the dangers of driving under the influence and texting while driving.  

Any and all students and staff who are interested may "drive" a real car while wearing a headset with an integrated graphic interface. Watch students and staff drive on the large TV monitors. 

A cell phone chirps while you are driving, indicating you have an incoming text. You must respond to a question while maneuvering through traffic and pedestrians crossing the street. Can you do it? Or do you hit the curb, a car, or run over a child?

The simulator will be open from 10am to 2pm. All students, staff and faculty are encouraged to attend.