CTE GRANT FUNDS “ ”

Students can register for the course in the fall, and Raba hopes to have around five students enrolled in the course during the first year of the program.

Sturgis Brown High School also has big plans for its grant.

Its staff plans to teach a new automation course, starting in the fall.

Partners

“They have been some of our best staff,” said Harwood. “We bring them on as our actual employees, and it’s an actual career for them”

Because Rolling Hills Healthcare employs the apprentice, the money from the grant can be put towards other expenses.

“We can use it (the grant) to assist apprentices with training costs, uniforms, and safety equipment,” said Day. “It can be used to help reimburse the partner or for our school district to increase participation in the program and to expand into different career areas.”

Day said that the school does plan to expand their program to other career fields in the future.

“This (automation course) is new in the region and the state.”

“The reason I selected to go down this road is because they tell us that around 60% of jobs that our students are going to be filling in their lifetime haven’t even been created yet,” said Miller.

While it is hard to guess what careers students will be in in the future, Miller hypothesizes that the job market will be largely dominated by automation. He believes it is important to teach his students how to make a living in that arena — building and maintaining automation.

“We are seeing automation in everything from agriculture, to food service, to manufacturing, and everything in between,” said Miller. “This course will be designed to introduce students to those possibilities.”

To make his automation class as broad as possible, Miller purchased five products, which he expects to be delivered in the next few months. The equipment will be divided into three major course sections — agriculture, electric vehicles, and manufacturing.

The first section consists of two FarmBots.

“It’s a robotic garden that comes as a kit. My students will build the garden, build the robot, program it, and then from there the robot will plant the seeds, monitor the soil for proper conditions — when it needs water, it’ll water it, when it needs fertilizer, it’ll fertilize it. It keeps track of where you planted

In order for a student to be chosen for the program, they must be at least 16 years old and participate in a series of interviews with their parents. They may also opt to have referrals from their teachers, counselors, and principal.

“Our apprentices will attend school for part of the day and then go and work at the partnering business for the other part of the day,” said Day.

“Currently, our youth apprentice (Aubrie Hobbs, a senior at the high school) attends class in the morning, and works at Rolling Hills Healthcare in the afternoon.”

Harwood said that, because the school was so willing to change the student’s class schedule around, the student is able to work full shifts at the facility. In fact, she works around 20-30 hours each week.

In order for the student to become a every plant, so it weeds itself,” said Miller. “It monitors the plant health, and it’ll tell you when its time to harvest it. I bought two of those, one of which will be set up and will run continuously, and one will be constructed and taken down by the students at the end of the course.”

“The extra produce from the gardens, the produce we don’t consume in our class, will go to our culinary arts program,” Miller added.

The second section uses a Switch Vehicle.

“It’s a full-on electric car. It comes to the classroom in a box, and students build the car,” said Miller. “It teaches students how an electric car works and why the controllers work the way that they do. Students can get in it, drive it, and tune it. At the end of the year, the students will take it apart and put it back into its boxes for the next students to build it again.”

The third section involves a manual mill and a manual lathe, two machines typically used in manufacturing.

“The students will convert the machines into a computer numerically controlled mill and lathe,”

CNA and complete the apprenticeship program, they must complete training and testing that the healthcare facility provides and pays for.

“The apprentices do 52 hours of online classes. Then they complete 16-24 hours of clinical training with our instructor, and then they take a skilled and written test,” said Harwood. “She (Hobbs) went through the classes quicker than our adult employees do.”

“She passed the test the first time, and now she works there as a CNA,” added Day. “If she wants to stay there, they are offering incentives. They offered to help with college tuition if she agrees to stay and work while going to nursing school.”

Day hopes to have her apprenticeship program registered with the Department of Labor by the end of said Miller. “The students will put it all together and learn what each mechanical part does. They will run that equipment and tune it.”

“The program is set up so that each group of students gets that full exposure to that entire process, and yet, from a cost basis, there is a single upfront investment,” Miller summarized.

Any student who has taken the introduction to technology class and has received their OSHA 10 card (a type of safety certification) will be able to sign up for the automation course.

“There will probably be much more interest than there will be time or space,”

Miller said in regard to the number of students who will be interested in learning automation.

Miller hopes that the school can get more equipment for CTE courses in the future.

“These kinds of classes are expensive. If the public wants this kind of education, and this type of education is critical, then they need to voice that opinion to all the powers need be,”

2023.

With a registered program, the students will also get an actual credential after completing the program, which will be valuable in America’s competitive work force.

“Rolling Hills has been a very good partner in our registered apprenticeship program, and we are very grateful for their participation in this program,” Day concluded.

While Harwood said that they hope to encourage more students to get into healthcare, they also hope to teach students other valuable lessons.

“My ultimate goal is to teach these younger kids that they (elderly people) are people. They were parents. They had lives as well. They were working before. They have great stories to tell,” said Harwood.