What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

Student-Built "Tiny Houses" Now For Sale!

In 1997 a man named Jay Shafer, who grew up in a 4,000 square foot home, decided to leave the "rat race" and downsize his life. He wanted to build a home that would meet his domestic needs but have limited unused space and be environmentally friendly. From this dream came the first Tumbleweed home which was 89 square feet. Since then Shafer has designed hundreds of "tiny houses" and makes the plans and tools available so that customers can build their own home based on his designs which have all been composed with meticulous attention to light, warmth, energy efficiency and proportion.

"The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful," said Shafer.

After learning about this new home option, Ranken’s Carpentry department decided to incorporate the construction of two of the homes into their evening school curriculum.

"We thought it was a great alternative to the modular homes we used to have them build inside the shop," said Carpentry Instructor Jeff Bosick. "Once the homes were completed we would have to tear them down and most of the used materials would go into the dumpster. With the Tumbleweed Homes our students still learn the skills they need to learn and the finished product can be sold and lived in."

The two homes built by Carpentry students are now for sale and include 65 square feet of living space, a kitchen, bathroom, lofted bedroom and water hookup. The selling price for each is $6,200 and includes the trailer and title.

"This was a great educational opportunity," said Ranken President Stan Shoun. "In this day and age it is important for all of us to look for ways to do things in a more environmentally friendly way and these homes are a great way for our students to not only learn their trade but to learn the importance of green technology and sustainability."

To take a tour of one of the homes or for purchasing information, please contact Bryan Hicklin, Carpentry department head at blhicklin@ranken.edu or (314) 286-4832. To learn more about Tumbleweed Homes visit www. tumbleweedhouses.com.

Senior Celebration

Its that time of year where all seniors and faculty start counting the days in celebration of graduation. All December 2011, May 2012 and August 2012 seniors are eligible to walk in the May exercise held at the Chaifetz on the St. Louis University campus. To celebrate, seniors pick up their caps and gowns, have light refreshments, and are provided with information about the alumni association, continuing education, class rings, and Bachelor programs.

250 seniors participated in the celbration event. Class pictures were taken and attendance prizes awarded. Thanks to Herff Jones for providing a $25.00 gas card, a scrapbook portfolio, book and book bag. Other prizes include tickets donated by the Gateway Grizzlies, St. Louis Renaissance Faire tickets and alumni polo shirts and other alumni items.The day was all about seniors and good wishes for a bright future!

This year, veterans are being honored with red, white, and blue chords like the traditional chords for Magna, Summa and Cum Laude grade point averages. Thanks to other Ranken departments Career Services, Trio Services, BSAM, Lois Ingram's photography class and Herff Jones for joining in and making this day EXTRA special for the graduates!

Pictures of the event and class pictures will be posted on Flickr.

RCDC Receives Excellence Award

Pictured L-R: John Wood, Ranken’s vice president for student success; Betty Krump, ATEA executive director and Dr. Larry Moser, ATEA president.

In January 2012, Ranken was informed that the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC) had been selected to receive the American Technical Education Association’s (ATEA) 2012 Outstanding Technical Program Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding technical program at a postsecondary technical education institution that is exemplary and contributes to the nation’s workforce. Requirements of the award include, cutting-edge instruction, a knowledgeable and active advisory committee, and involvement with local business and industry.

At the end of March, Ranken’s Vice President for Student Success attended ATEA’s National Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi to receive the award. Congratulations to all of the faculty, staff and students who are involved in RCDC on receiving this award!

 

 

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.)

 

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!

"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).

RCDC Working on Energy Star Rating for New Homes

On December 5, Ryan Bennett from ASERUSA performed preliminary inspection of the two new homes being built on Evans Avenue for the V2.5 Energy Star rating.

To earn the ENERGY STAR, a home must meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30% more efficient than standard homes.

Ranken began partnering with the EPA last year. Through this partnership RCDC agrees to affix an ENERGY STAR label on homes that are independently verified to meet program guidelines and to build at least one ENERGY STAR qualified home every 12 months to maintain their partnership. Through the Partnership Agreement process, the builder also selects a Home Energy Rater to work with to qualify their homes.

RCDC had to submit the architectural plans to their home energy rater for review and analysis. The rater looked for key information on the plans and helped them choose the best combination of energy–efficient features to ensure that the home will earn the ENERGY STAR label when constructed.

Throughout the construction process, the rater will perform a number of inspections and diagnostic tests to verify the proper installation of the selected energy–efficient features and overall energy performance of the home.

When Bennett came to the site to check the installation of wall insulation he commented that the RCDC students had done a better job than he usually sees with most professional installers.

"When these homes are sold, the new owners will enjoy lower energy bills from now on as a result of the work that our construction students are doing today," said John Wood, vice president for Student Success.

"This Energy Star rating means that the heating and cooling bills will be 1/3 less than that of the average American home built today."

 

RCDC Continues to Move Toward Building "Green"

Recognizing a need for housing in the community it serves, the College established the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC) backed by the development expertise of SLAYCO, 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.

The program has continued to grow and thrive over the past 17 years and the hard work of faculty, staff and students can be seen by the more than 50 new homes that have been built in the area surrounding campus. In recent years it has become an important mission of RCDC to begin to build more "green" and efficient homes. Last year the program participated in an Energy Star home inspection from Applied Science Energy Ratings (ASERusa). During the audit students were shown areas that needed improvement, then they went back and made improvements in insulation and caulking. After the final inspection done in May, the home was given an Energy Star Home rating.

The program has also started using advanced framing techniques that involve two-foot framing centers, which minimizes material usage and waste. On one of the homes being built this semester, RCDC used a product called 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.

"We continue to look for new ways to build homes more efficiently," said Jeff Bosick, carpentry instructor. "A lot of these new techniques save us money while building and definitely save the homeowner money in the long run." Studies have shown that homeowners with more energy efficient homes enjoy energy bills that are approximately 30% less than average homes.

"Finding ways to build homes using more energy efficient building techniques is the right thing to do," said John Wood, vice president for student success. "Beyond that though it’s 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 and colleagues these new building techniques."

 

 

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.