Electrical student, Philip Erzinger was recently awarded the James W. French / French Gerleman Scholarship.
This scholarship was set up In memory of French Gerleman’s former president, James W. French and is awarded to students enrolled in Ranken’s Electrical Automation Technology program.
Erzinger graduated from Valmeyer High School and is a second-year EAT student. He also serves as a student worker for the maintenance department on campus.
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!
Sargent & Lundy provides comprehensive consulting, engineering, design, and analysis for electric power generation and power delivery projects worldwide. The company has offered full -time technician positions to 10 of the students who interviewed. As a technician, the students will assist company engineers. Eight will be relocating to Chicago and two to Tennessee. "We can’t thank Sargent and Lundy enough for giving our students the opportunity to visit and apply for job openings," said John Wood, vice president for student success.
On January 5, Larry Sisson, ESDT instructor and 15 of his students took the train to Chicago, Ill. to visit the offices of Sargent and Lundy, a long-time supporter of Ranken. The students were invited by the company to visit and go through an interview and testing process in order to be considered for job openings within the company.
For the past 17 years RCDC has been helping to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood by building homes and selling them at reasonable prices to members of the community. The program also gives Ranken students the opportunity to put what they have learned in the shop to work in a real-world environment. Carpentry, Plumbing, HVACR and recently Architectural Technology students have all had the chance to work on the homes currently being built as part of Sam Moore Estates on Evans Avenue. Electrical students have never been able to help due to the legalities of electrical work having to be performed by an electrical company that is licensed and insured. Greg "Aussie" Thayer, an instructor in the Electrical division owns his own company called Big Bend Electric and did the electrical work on the home built last year. Thayer decided to fix the problem of electrical students not being able to work on the homes by hiring them as employees of his company. "We had been trying to figure out a way to give our students the opportunity to work on the homes and we thought this was a good solution," said Thayer. The students work at the house on their own time outside of classes and are paid through Thayer’s company. "We now have six Ranken students doing the wiring on the home, which is a great opportunity for them to have work experience to put on their resume after graduation."
This year for the first time, Electrical students have the opportunity to complete the wiring in one of the homes being built by the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC).
(St. Louis, MO) As part of the celebration of its 50th 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. ### 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.
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).
"We really wanted to do something to help," said Ron Ettling, Electrical instructor. "We ended up completely filling a van with electrical supplies." Some of the supplies that the department wanted to send were missing leads and connectors so John Wood contacted APACO Electronics to purchase the supplies. "I talked to their salesman, Tony and once he heard what we were doing, they were more than happy to donate the items," said Wood. "In fact, when we received the package there were a lot of supplies and equipment included that we hadn’t even requested." The van load of donations was driven to Springfield, Mo. by admissions counselor Janet Ray who was met by a FTC teacher. "They were so thrilled and appreciative of our donation," said Ray. "In fact, he couldn’t take it all in one trip, so the principal of the Joplin School District came up for the second load and wanted to personally thank us for the generous donation." Joplin Schools continue to need help with school supplies and equipment. If your company has items to donate or you would like to make a personal donation, please visit www.joplinschools.org.
Photo: Mike Hawley, director of Admissions (left) and Ron Ettling, Electrical instructor open the care package from APACO.
Earlier this summer Ranken’s Electrical department gathered items to send to Franklin Technology Center (FTC) which was destroyed by the tornado that hit Joplin, Mo. in May. The school was completely destroyed and has had to relocate to a warehouse in a different part of town. Renovations are underway and should be ready for classes to begin in mid-September. Along with the building, most of the school’s equipment and supplies were unsalvagable.
Ranken ESDT and BSAM graduate, Jennifer Wall, was recently highlighted as a success story by St. Louis’ YWCA. Below is the feature article written about her and her son, Nathaniel:
Today, Jenn Wall is an electrical systems designer, working in downtown Chicago, living on the city’s North Side with her six-year-old son, and contemplating graduate school. The future is bright, but it wasn’t always that way. A few years ago the single mother was using credit cards to pay the bills and buy groceries. It didn’t take long to rack up $10,000 in debt, with more on the way as she tried to put herself through school to make a better life.
The initiative was developed to help single women with children achieve greater economic stability through educational and financial assistance, case management/life coaching, and career and personal support.
As one of 10 women selected for the program in 2007, Wall met monthly with Nicole Hughes, the program administrator and "life coach," as she was dubbed by participants. "One of the unique aspects of this program is that it isn’t one-size-fits-all," says Hughes. "Each of the women developed their own plan and needed different resources. The flexibility of the funders allowed us to tailor the program individually, and that has been a key to success."
After the first three years of the initiative, the results are tangible:
Wall says next to earning her Bachelor’s degree from Ranken Technical College, her biggest achievement has been paying off her debt. "That wouldn’t have happened without the program. Part of the solution for me was learning to manage my money and part was getting qualified to get a better job. The program helped me do both."
Now instead of juggling credit to meet daily living expenses, Wall can concentrate on her newest assignment, designing electrical systems for a nuclear power plant. When she’s not at the drawing board, she’s dreaming up and designing her next moves to get where she wants to go in life.
The YWCA Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative was initially designed as a three-year program, funded annually with a $125,000 grant from the Trio Foundation. Trio’s partnership with YWCA to manage the initiative makes perfect sense because YWCA has been a pillar of other economic empowerment programs for decades.
Due to the participants’ success, the foundation has extended funding through 2012. After an 18-month study to identify barriers to economic stability for low-income women, the initiative was designed to provide education in trades traditionally dominated by men, while addressing other issues single women face, such as housing, transportation, childcare and healthcare. The program is focused on women who have the potential to achieve economic stability within three to five years.
YWCA Metro St. Louis is a nonprofit organization that focuses on race equity issues and offers transitional housing, early learning, crisis intervention, life skills training, and youth and teen development. More information is available at www.ywcastlouis.org.
For Wall, it was a life-changer. "It’s not just a scholarship program, it’s about getting your life together. I knew what I wanted, but I didn’t know how to get there. And my financial situation was worse than I thought; it was going to hold me back," says Wall.
