What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

Students Show Off Skills at State Competition

Over the weekend of March 30 - April 1, Ranken students who placed first or second in the Regional SkillsUSA competition had the opportunity to go to Linn State in Linn, Mo. to compete in the Missouri State competition. As in the past, Ranken students fared very well and 10 of them will be moving on to the National competition to be held in Kansas City, Mo. the weekend of June 25 -26.

Congratulations to all of our students who competed and to the first place finishers who will be moving on. Thank you to all of the faculty and staff who made the trip to Linn State to participate and support our students!

Architectural Drafting

Bryan Sohn 2nd place

Alexander Carter 5th place

 

Architectural Drafting Technical Information

Bryan Sohn 2nd place

Alexander Carter 5th place 

Automated Manufacturing Technical Information

Ian Wille 1st place

Blaine Mescher 2nd place

Jeremy Franklin 3rd place

Scott Martin 4th place

Nick Goris 5th place

Ghreg Wellmaker 6th place

 

Automated Manufacturing Technology (Teams)

Scott Martin 1st place

Blaine Mescher

Ian Wille

Jeremy Franklin 4th place

Nick Goris

Ghreg Wellmaker

 

Automotive Refinishing Technology

Katie Beck 1st place

Shawn Brummet 9th place

 

Automotive Service Technical Information

Lucas Klinkhardt 1st place

Josh Myers 3rd place

 

Automotive Service Technology

Josh Myers 1st place

Lucas Klinkhardt 2nd place

 

　

Carpentry

Ryan Faust 1st place

Joseph Len 5th place

Carpentry Technical Information

Joseph Len 2nd place

Ryan Faust 5th place

 

CNC Milling Technology

Matthew Warnecke 1st place

Jared Cheatham 4th place

 

CNC Turning Technology

Andy Schaefer 2nd place

Aaron Farrington 3rd place

 

Collision Repair Technology

Stephen Hayn 2nd place

Ben McLean 7th place

 

HVACR

Chris Duwa 3rd place

Jeffrey Thompson 4th place

 

Precision Machining Technology

Nick Moutrie 5th place

Robert Bindrim 6th place

 

Welding Fabrications (Team)

Tyler Doerr 1st place

Jeff Pope

Robert Thompson

 

　

 (Blue indicates moving on to the National competition.)

 

NATEF Recertifies Automotive Division

Every five years, Ranken’s Automotive program must be recertified by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF). The process is tedious and includes a lot of documentation, reports and a site visit.

On Friday, March 30, an evaluator from the NATEF and two local automotive industry experts came to campus to review the general automotive program to ensure that they are continuing to meet all NATEF standards in curriculum, faculty credentials, equipment, tools and consortial partnerships. Ronnie Raines served as the program’s accreditation coordinator and was responsible for most of the organization and documentation needed for the visit. The evaluator was very complementary of Ronnie’s careful organization of the data and supporting evidence.

The department will be recommended for recertification without any corrections. Congratulations to Ronnie Raines and the entire Automotive division!

 

Spark Plug Challenge

Enter the Spark Plug Challenge with a friend at the upcoming Ranken Car Show on April 15th. 

Sponsored by the Alumni Council this challenge will test your skills at spark plug changing— 4 out and 4 in—the fastest time wins a prize! At the end of the day are you the fastest? Champion trophy will be given during the awards ceremony for the fastest time recorded. Singles, duos and teams are welcome. The cost per timed contest is $1 and all proceeds go toward the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.

See you there!

 

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."

 

"Rebuilding Day" Annual Community Service Event

Alumni and students are invited to participate in the national Rebuilding Day sponsored by St. Louis' Rebuilding Together organization. This day of giving back to the community by repairing, rebuilding and upgrading homes of the elderly, handicapped and low income in the St. Louis area will be held on Saturday, May 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Groups all over the country will be joining together to help others on this national day of service. This is the 3rd year for Ranken's involvement in this event and is a fun day supporting a good cause. Only a helping attitude, 25 workers and a house captain are required. Personal tools are a plus! Join us as we assist a homeowner near the Ranken campus and continue support of our neighbors.

Pictures of previous Rebuilding Days can be found at our Flickr Page.

Contact Kathy Fern, (314) 286-4895 or email ktfern@ranken.edu with your interest or questions.

Time To Nominate Distinguished Alumni!

It is time again for annual nominations for the Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Young Alumni Award to be presented at Ranken's May 12 graduation celebration at the Chaifetz Arena. These awards honor Ranken graduates who have excelled in their career and given back to their community. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2012. 

The criteria, nomination form and additional information can be found at  http://www.ranken.edu/alumni/honoring-our-alumni under Awards. Any questions can be answered by contacting Kathy Fern, (314) 286-4895 in the alumni office.

Recipients will receive a commemorative plaque and name inscribed on a perpetual plaque. 

Past recipients are Distinguished Alumni Earl Walker (2010) and Tom Wood (2011) and Distinguished Young Alumni are Andy Raines (2010) and Jeff Scott (2011).

Automotive Hosts Conference for Local Teachers

 
On October 6-7, Ranken hosted the 72^th semi-annual Illinois College Automotive Instructors Association Conference (ICAIA). The first day of the conference began with a trade show where more than 30 vendors from industry set up and displayed their products. By 8:30 a.m. more than 120 automotive instructors had made their way through the trade show.

Conference attendees included 143 automotive instructors from Missouri and Illinois, many were from the Chicago region. Technical presentations took place throughout the day and presenters included representatives from GM, Ford, Hunter Engineering, Snap On , and 3M. Lunch was served to 220 people in the atrium of the Mary Ann Lee Technology Center.

On Thursday evening, a banquet was held at the Pear Tree Inn and 135 people were in attendance. Jim Halderman was the guest speaker and gave an excellent presentation on the emerging technologies in the automotive industry. Two $950 scholarships were awarded to Ranken students. Lucas Klinkhardt from AMT and Steven Hayn from ACR received the scholarships. The scholarship money was donated from ICAIA, Mac Tools, Keystone and ATI.

The second day of the conference continued with technical presentations from Ranken instructors, Omar Trinidad from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale , Tom Freels from Sinclair Community College, a representative from Snap On and a representative from 3M, just to name a few. Many positive comments were made by attendees on Ranken’s facilities and overall everyone seemed very impressed on what the College has to offer.

 

Partnership With JM&A Continues to Grow

 

Photo: Eric Gonzalez recently completed his training and is now works part-time in the call center.

The JM&A Group has been a long-standing supporter of Ranken and in February of 2009 the College and JM&A formed a mutually beneficial partnership by creating a call center on the bottom floor of the Cook building. JM&A Group, based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., is one of the largest independent providers of finance and insurance products in the automotive industry. The group of four companies provides services to over 2,800 automotive dealerships and retail automotive outlets, representing virtually all manufacturer makes and models.

JM&A’s local call center is located in Earth City and, along with associates in Florida, they answer over a million calls a year. The idea to set up a satellite call center at Ranken came when they realized that more than 35 Ranken students were driving to Earth City every day to work.

Last week 11 more Ranken students successfully completed the 40 hours of customer service training and a 90 day evaluation period. They will receive three credit hours on their Ranken transcript for the coursework in "mechanical claims analyst" and are now working part-time for Fidelity Warranty. The students work in the call center taking calls from service advisors, technicians and consumers concerning automobile warranties. The associates are responsible for looking up the vehicle warranty information and processing the claim if it’s something that is covered.

"It’s a win-win situation," said Chris Kolkmeier, manager of the St. Louis Fidelity Warranty Service office which is a subsidiary of Jim Moran & Associates. "We have access to well-trained employees that have basic automotive knowledge, and Ranken students have a great job opportunity that is right on campus. We can’t thank Ranken enough for their continued support of this program."

Congratulations to the following students who have completed their training and evaluation:

» Christopher Burgdorf (Automotive Collision Repair)

» Matthew Cartia (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» Richard Edwards (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» Eric Gonzalez (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» Nicholas Henderson – Meekins (Automotive Collision Repair)

» Chris Parker (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» Mark Pate (Automotive Collision Repair)

» Anthony Pavez (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» Jeffery Robinson (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

» TreVyon Scott-Boykin (Automotive Collision Repair)

» Demetrice Williams (Automotive Maintenance Technology)

 

 

Students’ Skills Aid in Training of St. Louis Police Officers

Officer Joan Straughter, a local patrol officer for St. Louis Police district 8, recently approached John Wood, vice president for student success, about the police academy’s need for a "fake" U.S. postal box. The academy has a shooting range located in South City at Highway 55 and Gasconade where officers perform training exercises. Currently, the academy is training new and veteran officers on a street scene which includes cars, buildings, trees and lamp posts. The officers run the course to simulate live action such as a shoot out or hostage situation. The street scene was missing a mailbox so teachers and students from Welding and Automotive Collision came together to create a life-like version for the training center.

"Its very important for the training of officers that this scene be as realistic as possible," said rangemaster, Richard Long.

"We thought it was really important to have a mailbox on the street scene," said Officer Straughter. "Officers oftentimes make the mistake of hiding behind a mailbox not realizing that the metal its made from is not very thick and it’s hollow. Bullets penetrate it very easily."

 
The mailbox, which was completed this week, will be added to the training street scene and will also be used to shoot a training video that will be distributed to other police departments nation wide.

Thank you to welding instructor, John Baima and welding student, Will Hutchins who built the mailbox according to postal service measurements and specifications and to ACR instructor John Helterbrand and ACR student, Clay Williams who painted the mailbox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo L-R: Will Hutchins (welding) and Clay Williams (ACR)

8th Annual Car Show & Alumni Reunion

 Ranken's 8th Annual Car Show and Alumni Reunion held last Sunday, April 17 was a big success! The beautiful weather only helped attendance with 352 registered vehicles and an estimated 1,500 guests in attendance.

Voting was done a little differently this year with a "Participant's Choice" awarded in the 17 different classes. Rather than seperate judges, each registrant received a ballot and had the opportunity to vote for their favorite vehicle in each class. Congratulations to our winners!                               

1. Original, 1900-1948    1912 Ford Model T: Ryan Brazier, Florissant, MO

2. Original, 1949-1965    1958 Chevy Impala: Bob Scott, St. Louis, MO

3. Original, 1966-1975    1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1: Sean Ziolo, Kansas City, KS

4. Original 1976-1995    1984 Oldsmobile Hurst: Kevin & Robin Meyer, Farmington, MO

5. Original 1996-2002    1999 Plymouth Prowler: Jerry Sonderman, Hazelwood, MO

6. Original 2003-present    2008 Dodge Challenger: Nick Sciarratta, O'Fallon, MO

7. Street Rod, 1948 or older    1928 Ford 2-door sedan: Paul Vandeven, St. Louis, MO

8. Modified Cars, 1949-1975    1970 Plymouth Cuda: Donald Gierer, Villa Ridge, MO

9. Modified Cars, 1976-present    2003 Chevy Monte Carlo: Ernie Blackburn, Florissant, MO

10. Street Machine, 1949-1975   1962 Chevy Corvette: Rich & Helen Hamlyn, Imperial,MO

11. Street Machine, 1976-present   1995 Chevy Impala: Kirk & Pam Stump, Rolla, MO

12. Trucks, SUVs              2006 Ford F650: Michael Lurebach, Chesterfield, MO

13. Imports, 2000 and prior   1994 Ferrari 349 Spider: Jeff Lallo, Edwardsville, IL

14. Imports, 2001-present    2005 Subaru WRX: Rick Savage, Pevely, MO

15. Sport Compacts        1957 VW Bug: Frank Ramaesiri, Chesterfield, MO

16. Under Construction    1934 Chevy: Larry Reifsteck, Kirkwood, MO

17. Special Interest    1965 Pontiac Bonneville: Kiera Vaughn, St. Louis, MO

18. Student's Choice    1969 Plymouth Road Runner: Rick Pennycook, St. Louis, MO

During the car show, all Ranken alumni were invited to have lunch together under the show tent. Congratulations to the following alumni who recieved awards:

- Conrad Phillip    Oldest alumni in attendance

- John Schifko    Logest years married (58!)

- Tom Tomasek    Oldest car on display (1930 Ford)

Thank you to all of the vendors who attended or supported this year's show:

Great Clips in Collinsville, IL

Akzo Nobel

3M Automotive in St. Louis

Gateway Grizzlies in Sauget, IL

Reliance Automotive in St. Louis

Snap On Tools

LKQ/Keystone  in Caseyville, IL

Kemp Auto Museum in Chesterfield, MO

Gateway Classic Cars in Fairmont City, IL

Kenny Wallace Fan Club

Mequiar’s  Inc.  out of Irving, CA

Meramec Lakes Golf Course in St. Clair, MO

Wilke Window & Door in Shiloh, IL, St. Charles, MO

St. Louis CARSTAR Business Group

AASP-Missouri in St. Louis

Bliss Bake Shoppe in Brussels, IL

Automotive Technology, Inc. in St. Louis

Metro Vocational Technical Assistance Program (MVTAP)

Marketing department/Ranken Technical College

Automotive Collision Repair department/Ranken Technical College

Trio Student Support Services/Ranken Technical College

Bookstore/Ranken Technical College

Dave Graf, Architecture instructor/Ranken Technical College

Ranken Alumni/Staff/Students

Arch Rival Roller Derby Girls

Columbia Kiwanis

St. Louis Sno Sled

Washington Kettle Corn

To check out more photos of the car show and past events, visit our Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rankentech/sets/72157626533733436/with/5635141591/

If you attended the Car Show, we would love your feedback! Take our online survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BQFR9A2Q5