No train no gain

There’s a million adages about the impact education can have on your life and the economy of a region or a nation.

That’s one of the keystones of technical education, specifically how training can positively impact the lives of students, businesses and the people in the communities around them. As I look at the nearly 1,000 students who graduated from one of more than 65 career options at Gateway, I realize again that their training will help them – and others – to gain in many ways.

Students of all ages and all stations of their career will gain much: Training in a well-paying career that will continue to benefit their lives from today forward, confidence and a degree they can build upon for their future. For some, that future is now.

Employers gain by having a pool of well-trained workers from which to draw to keep their businesses strong.

And, finally, communities and the economy gain. Most technical college graduates stay to live and work in the communities they live in.

Communities, students, and businesses need this training and education to remain strong. If there is no training – then there is no gaining.

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Gateway launches
On Demand Accounting

Gateway recently launched another cutting-edge program, On Demand Accounting.

Students could begin signing up for the program in May and many have already signed up for the online program. This program defies the traditional semester and can be sought after by students with a wide variety of backgrounds including stay-at-home moms, members of the military, and professionals already in their career field.

The program offers extreme flexibility. Once a student registers for each online course, he or she can begin within the week and has up to 15 weeks to finish the course. If they finish early, they can start the next course right away.

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Gateway begins
CNC boot camp

A total of 13 students have enrolled in the eighth Gateway computer numerical control (CNC) boot camp.

The boot camp helps dislocated and underemployed workers by putting them through a rigorous program to teach them to be CNC machine operators. Students leave the 14-week, 40-hour-a-week program with the technical skills to land a job, or to apply the 14 credits earned toward a Gateway CNC production technician technical diploma.

The program will help meet employer demand, too – at the time it began, there were 200 unfilled CNC positions in the Gateway district. Graduation is set for July 18. Another boot camp is scheduled to begin Sept. 2.

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Gateway staff members
mentor fifth-graders

Several Gateway employees participated in an e-pal mentoring project with fifth-graders from Kenosha Unified School District’s Frank Elementary School.

Zina Haywood, Ann Henderson, Barb Henken, Paulette Jenrette, Debbie Miller, Tina Schmitz, John Thibodeau, Bill Whyte, and Julie Whyte all mentored the students via e-mail this year, culminating with a tour of Gateway in May. For most of them, this was the first time the mentors and students met in person. The tour was conducted to help students experience the many career opportunities available to them.

Students and staff members communicated through e-mail about school activities, careers, and professionalism.

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AlertMe alert
goes well

The system-wide test of the AlertMe messaging system was a success. The test not only proved Gateway’s system design worked well on a large scale – but also helped identify a few areas needing attention, and solutions have already been implemented for them. Most users received the test message in less than a minute after it was sent from the system.

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Drag racer tells students education
professionalism key to career path

National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racer Steve Johnson told automotive technology students at the Horizon Center that education, knowledge of today’s technology, and professionalism are keys to their career success.

Johnson told the students their knowledge of diagnostic tools – and specifically Snap-on tools – will help them to stand out from other applicants once they apply for a job.

“Because they have chosen Gateway Technical College, they have made a choice to be the best,” said Johnson. “If I were a headhunter working for a job placement agency, this is where I would come.”

Johnson said the students will enter a career field that will never outsource its work. “You are the staff – you won’t be replaced by a machine,” said Johnson. “When you leave here, you will leave with the confidence that there are a lot of jobs out there.”

One of Johnson’s sponsors is Snap-on Incorporated.

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Gateway signs biomedical
agreement with Marquette

Gateway Technical College and Marquette University signed an agreement giving students in the expanding field of biomedical engineering added opportunities to advance their education and career.

The agreement provides a seamless opportunity for Gateway associate degree graduates to continue their education and complete a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Marquette University. Students can enter the field after graduating from Gateway and then choose whether to continue at Marquette. Gateway students graduating with an associate degree in biomedical engineering technology can enter Marquette’s program as advanced sophomores a few credits short of junior status.

The articulation agreement was signed May 13 at Gateway Technical College’s Center for Bioscience & Information Technology, and continues a partnership between the two colleges.

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Welding boot camp
finishes strong

Gateway finished its third welding boot camp in May, and there may be more soon.

This boot camp featured two high-schoolers in line to graduate from their high schools. The remaining eight were from the Racine County Workforce Development Center and the Kenosha County Job Center.

The boot camp model fits two needs – it helps underemployed workers to become trained in an area for which local employers say there is a need for qualified workers.

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College, AT&T officials
experience impact of grant dollars

Gateway Technical College and AT&T officials were able to see firsthand how equipment, paid for through an AT&T grant, will help students to gain training which has real-world application.

Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin, and Gateway President Bryan Albrecht toured the telecommunications lab in the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation. Part of that tour included new telecommunications lab training equipment and tools to test, splice, and work with copper and fiber optic network infrastructure paid for through a $10,000 AT&T Foundation grant awarded to the college.

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Students put engineering know-how
to work in SumoBot competition

Students put their engineering know-how to work by squaring off against one other with their robots at the Fifth Annual SumoBot competition at the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation.

More than 100 high-schoolers and middle-schoolers from Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties brought their self-made robots to the competition designed to help students apply their engineering skills while having a little fun.

Students squared off their remote-controlled robots in a nondestructive wrestling competition where they attempted to push their opponents’ robots outside of a 6-foot ring, and a timed task event where the robots must snuff out five candles set in coffee cans at heights varying from 6 inches to 2 feet off the ground. Students also presented an engineering journal on constructing and working with the robot.

Karcher Middle School’s Team Fanimal was the overall winner of the event. The school is located in Burlington.

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Nearly 1,000
graduate from Gateway

Snap-on Incorporated president and chief executive officer Nicholas T. Pinchuk was the keynote speaker at Gateway’s commencement which recognized about 965 candidates for graduation.

About 450 students attended the commencement celebrating their achievements. Pinchuk told the graduates to continue to aspire and invest in themselves. Richard Weinke, a student from the Elkhorn Campus, provided the Student Response.

Other commencement highlights include the presentation of the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award by the Gateway Technical College Foundation Inc. to Janet Giovannetti.

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First group of recruits
graduate from police academy

A total of 21 recruits graduated from Gateway Technical College’s first Law Enforcement Academy.

Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf was the keynote speaker at the ceremony held in the Madrigrano Auditorium of the Conference Center on the Kenosha Campus.

Four graduates received top honors in their class. Nicholas Hack received the highest academic honor; Tommar Franklin was elected president of the graduating class; LaVon Harvey Sr. was elected sergeant-at-arms; and John Garner received the Top Gun award for best marksmanship.

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