What's Happening at Ranken Technical College

"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).

IT Donates to Damaged Pike-Lincoln Technical Center

Photo L-R: Janet Ray, admissions counselor, Charles Corrigan, IT department head and Tom McCraken, Winfield High School principal.

Pike-Lincoln Technical Center (PLTC), located in Eolia, Mo., is an educational institution designed to offer career, technical, and community education to residents of Pike, Lincoln and surrounding counties.

The Technical Center began as an outgrowth of the need for vocational training in Northeast Missouri in the late 1960’s. PLTC is considered a showcase for technical training across the state and region. The Pike County R-III (Clopton) School District is the fiscal agent of PLTC but students attend from seven area schools including: Bowling Green R-I, Louisiana R-II, Clopton, Silex R-I, Elsberry R-II, Troy R-III, and Winfield R-IV. Adult students from the surrounding counties also take courses at PLTC in the day and evening.

On the evening of December 2, tragedy struck when a fire engulfed the main building of the school. Thankfully classes had ended and no one was in the building at the time of the fire. The schools newer Diesel and Automotive Technology Building was also undamaged.

It took a few days to assess the damage and create a game plan, but PLTC bounced back quickly and classes resumed on December 9 using the recently closed Clopton Middle School which is now the new site for the technical center.

On December 8, Tom McCracken, the principal of Winfield High School brought a group of students from PLTC to tour Ranken. During their tour they met Charles Corrigan, Ranken’s IT department head who presented them with several Cisco switches donated by the department.

"We have had a good relationship with Pike-Lincoln for several years," said Corrigan. "They are starting from scratch and this was the least we could do to help them get back on their feet."

 

S-STEM Students Visit Datotel

On November 16, the Information Technology S-STEM students took a trip to Datotel located at 710 N. Tucker in downtown Saint Louis. Datotel was founded in 2004 with the sole mission of reducing IT costs through optimal resource allocation, Datotel empowers companies with the services they need when they need it to keep their networks operational with 100% uptime. This is accomplished through expertise and service which generally consists of a combination of the following services:

» Cloud Computing

» Colocation

» Green Technology

» Infrastructure

 

While there, students met with Greg Daniels, a current Ranken student, who works in the Network Operations Center. Darin Warren, manager of sales engineering, Christian Tragesser an engineer and Adam Bundren a facility engineer also spent time with the students discussing Datotel’s history, the direction it is going and how work ethic is an important factor in hiring. The students were also given the opportunity to tour the entire facility.

"This was by far the best trip I have been on," said Andrew Varble, an S-STEM student.

Roger Mudd, another S-STEM student stated, "I really enjoyed the ability to see the inner workings of the company and not have someone just tell me about them. I also enjoyed when Adam showed us the equipment and what it was used for. By far the most fun I have had."

S-STEM is a grant funded by the National Science foundation, which awards scholarships to students majoring in INT, ART, IT and PMT. Part of the program includes funding for enhanced programs to help prepare students for careers in these high-tech fields, which include field trips, professional development activities and career services and counseling.

 

IT Hosts Hiring Seminar for Future Graduates

On Tuesday, November 15, Ranken’s Information Technology department hosted the Second Annual Graduation Summit given by Help Desk International (HDI). HDI is the world’s largest IT service and technical support membership association and the industry’s premier certification and training body. Guided by an international panel of industry experts and practitioners, HDI is the leading resource for help desk/support center emerging trends and best practices. HDI was started as a way for local businesses to share information and increase productivity. They provide members with a vast repository of resources and networking opportunities.

"Our local HDI chapter is made up of a lot of businesses who hire Ranken graduates," said Charles Corrigan, IT division chair. "So it makes a lot of sense for us to collaborate with them and host this event on campus."

The event consisted of several speakers who represented various local businesses such as Apex, Mastercard, Technisource and Enterprise. Presentations covered subjects like how to build a good resume, interview techniques, "selling yourself" to potential employers, working in the IT "real world", being a contractor versus an employee and current IT trends.

The event also included a question and answer session with a panel of IT professionals as well as a student testimonial by 2010 Ranken graduate Robert Johnston who is currently a contractor with Enterprise.

"This is such a great opportunity for our students," said Corrigan. "These are great companies looking to hire quality employees and they are taking the time to give our students insight as to what they look for when hiring. They are also getting "heads up" information about which companies have positions open and how to apply. We feel really lucky to have formed this partnership with HDI."

 

IT Instructor Using YouTube to Teach More Effectively

In today’s world, education and technology are constantly changing. In order to keep up and stay ahead of the curve, teachers are trying to find innovative ways to teach their students more effectively. One Ranken Information Technology (IT) instructor has done just that. Ashley Reddick who teaches the Operating System (OS) classes, is now using YouTube to upload videos that his students can use to practice what they have learned in class.

"With more people expanding their education and returning to school, our classes are really full," said Reddick. "It was becoming difficult to make sure I was giving all of the students the time they needed and answering all of their questions."

Students can now go to Reddick’s youtube page (www.youtube.com/user/Arreddick?blend=8&ob=5#p/u) to watch videos that walk them through lessons that have been covered in class.

"It helps students keep pace with the class at their own speed and it helps me focus more on the students who may be struggling in the class," said Reddick. "Not all people learn the same way. Some are kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, visual learners and some hybrids in the mix. As teachers we need to try our best to meet the needs of not just one type but all of them and I really think these videos do that."

Reddick graduated from Ranken’s IT program in 2008 and has been an instructor at the College for about two years. He and his wife have set up a scholarship fund called the Ashley and Destiny Reddick Scholarship which is a $1,500 scholarship awarded to a new IT student each year.

 

S-STEM Students Visit Savvis

S-STEM students from Information Technology and Architecture visited Savvis’ global headquarters in Chesterfield, MO on Wednesday, April 13. The group met with Spencer Gohre, senior recruiter and Ben Martin, director of technical operations and attended a 45 minute presentation learning about Savvis and how teamwork is integral to their success. The presentation was followed by a discussion on employment opportunities and program specific tours.

Savvis has been around since 1996 and is a global leader in IT infrastructure services with a platform spanning North America, Europe, and Asia. Savvis is among the best in the industry in delivering IT solutions that enable customers to focus on their core business while Savvis ensures the quality of their IT systems and operations.

Cisco VP Visits Information Technology Class

 
 On Wednesday, April 6, Howard Charney, senior vice president and member of Cisco’s Office of the President and Executive Staff visited Ranken’s Information Technology program. Charney reports directly to Cisco CEO, John Chambers.

Charney was one of the four founders of 3Com Corporation and the founder of Grand Junction Networks. Grand Junction Networks is credited for inventing Fast Ethernet and switching. These technologies have been instrumental to the development of the internet as we know it today. In 1995 Grand Junction Networks was purchased by Cisco.

Charney toured the IT classrooms and spoke to the students about his experiences as an engineer and as the Senior Vice President of Cisco. He took questions from students which ranged from his personal life to new technologies that we are going to see in the near future.

"Mr. Charney’s visit was a great experience for our students," said IT instructor Alan Poettker. "For me it was really interesting to hear him talk about people we read about in our IT books as his personal friends. We were all really excited and grateful to have had him on campus."

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She plans to promote Ranken’s Summer Adventure Academy in her on-line newsletter. She also hopes to introduce the campus to additional elected officials and to champion our cause to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

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.

 

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

-

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!