Gift for Early Childhood Program

Three of our Welding students, Alicia Hagan, Tom Rupp and Tyler Kibler collaborated to create this wonderful gift for the Early Childhood Education program here at Tech. This is a perfect example of community service to the school.

The students in the Welding program are known for community service projects within and outside of the school. Keep up the good work!

10th grade class trip

Today, many of our 10th grade Man/Tran students are partipating in the class trip. The 10th grade students are traveling today to the Inner Harbor to visit some of the fantastic places down there. The students got to wear their "street clothes" today and were excited for a great time. We are looking forward to their safe return and hearing about the experiences they had.

Students of the Month

Last night at the Joint Operating Committee meeting, the February and March Students of the Month for the Man/Tran academy were announced. They are as listed below:

February

Ben Dehoff, Welding, Grade 12
Brayden Cordrey, Diesel, Grade 10

March

Deaven Brown, Auto, Grade 12
Jesse Blair, Collision Repair, Grade 11

Please congratulate these students when you see them! They earned certificates and gift cards to Target.

NATEF Recertification

It's official! We received our notification from NATEF yesterday that our Automotive Technology Program earned it's recertification. Many of our faculty and staff members in the academy deserve kudos for their involvement in making the process go smoothly. Mr. Merges, automotive instructor, organized the process. Mr. Kessler, automotive instructor, and Mrs. Furhman, teaching assistant, provided a great deal of work for the process as well. Finally, we had a student, Mike Ruff, who worked with the recertification team all day long, helping them with anything they needed. Congrats to the Automotive Technology Program!

Announcement of Unsung Hero Awards

Please congratulate the following students for earning the Unsung Hero award in their shops during the months of Jan. and Feb.

January

Auto: Randy Brooks, Nate Swiger, Cory Topper

Collision: Jesse Blair

Metal Machining: Christian Marks

Welding: Zach Puhan, Eric Ritchey


February

Auto: Cody Arnold, Andrew Becker, Carl Wildasen

Collision: Chris Rodriguez

Metal Machining: Nick Feliciano

Welding: Jake Anderson, Eric Shearer

Congrats to all winners! They are invited to a lunch in the SPART Inn with me at 11:00 am on Thursday, 3/25/10.

Written NOCTI

After doing a great job yesterday on the performance part of the NOCTI exam, our 12th students will be starting to complete the written portion today. Today and tomorrow, our 12th grade students will be reporting to the Media Center to complete the written portion of the exam on the computers. Thanks to Mrs. Runkle for setting everything up for us so that our students will complete the test in a timely and successful fashion.

NOCTI Performance Exam

Good luck to all York County School of Technology seniors as they complete the NOCTI performance exam today!

OAC meetings

Welcome to all OAC members attending our meetings today! I apologize that I have to be out of the building at a professional development conference, but I look forward to hearing about the discussions and following up with you all after I read the notes from the meetings. You can follow to this blog - www.ycstmantran.blogspot.com to see daily updates of happenings in the Manufacturing and Transportation academy. In talking with our technical teachers, I think you will hear that many of your concerns about this year's scheduling in relation to time in shop and co-op potential have been addressed.

NOCTI Prep

Yesterday and today, our shops are in full NOCTI review preparation mode. On Monday, our 12th grade students will be taking the hands-on portion of the NOCTI exam. Later next week, our students will be taking the written part of it. This is the first year we are taking the written portion AFTER the hands-on portion. This was intentional, to have the students, who are typically more successful in the hands-on portion, go into the written portion with the confidence boost from completing the hands-on portion.

Seen above is Mr. Mark, Power Equipment instructor, reviewing engine diagnostic techniques with students.

Collision Repair Technique

Last week in Collison Repair, I saw this student project. On the top of this piece, the student explained to me that it's called "Marble-izing." This is just a small sample of what our students learn how to do in the Collision Repair program.

On another note, today is a 9 period day, which means that our students will have the opportunity to participate in student organizations, have extra shop time, or get additional help in an academic area.

Unsung Hero Awards

Each month, students are nominated by their shop teachers for the Unsung Hero award. This award goes to a student who is a team player, helpful to ones teachers and peers, and conducts oneself in a professional manner in their technical program. These students will be invited to attend a luncheon with me in the SPART Inn on March 25th.

Starting today, I will be visiting all the shop areas to distribute the awards to the students. It will take me a few days to distribute all the awards from January and February. After I am done, I will post the list of winners.

Blueprint Reading

Today, I visited Mr. Jamison's Blueprint Reading course. The students were learning about Revolved and Assembly sections. It really reminded me how "academic" trade learning can be sometimes. All the students seemed involved and attentive to the lesson, and I look forward to seeing the students apply this knowledge in the shop area.

Published Author

If you have a chance, check out the April, 2010, issue of Diesel Power magazine. Blaine Fauth, Diesel Technology student, is featured with his '86 Chevy K-5 Blazer. He's been rebuilding it for a couple years now after purchasing it from a military liquidation site.

Way to go, Blaine!

National Welding Award

We just received information a day or two ago that Nate Price, a senior in the Welding Technology Program, passed a national certification test given by the Welder Training Testing Institute (WTTI). This means that Nate will be receiving a card that gives him national certification as a welder, while still a high school student!! Wow, amazing! Just goes to show how a student's hard work and good instruction from teachers can pay off!

Congratulations, Nate! We are honored that you are one of our students!

I visited the Collision Repair Technology program yesterday and saw great things happening! Here are all the project cars that students are working on. In the distance you can see a student working on a police car. When I asked him what the project was, he said that the York Regional Police Department wanted him to change the style of this police car to match the newer models they have purchased. They will then put the car back on the road with the rest of their fleet. Great Job to Shawn, who's completing the project and to York Regional Policefor trusting this job to the Collision Repair program at YCST.

AWS President Reschedule and Diesel Project

Due to a scheduling conflict, the AWS president did not visit YCST. We should see him in April.

Down in Diesel shop today, I discovered a fantastic project. In this picture, you see a donated truck from UTZ. This tractor came to use without an engine and many other parts. The students are putting together much of this truck from scratch. I can't wait to see what how their "hot rod" tracker turns out.... I'll post about this when it's done!

Visit from American Welding Society president!

Today, our Welding students will have the distinct honor of meeting the recently elected AWS president, John Bruskotter. Read about Mr. Bruskotter at the following link to see his impressive experience in the Welding industry: http://files.aws.org/pr/012610.pdf.

Today, several of our Man/Tran students participated in the all school bowling tournament held at Suburban Bowlerama after school. One those students was Cody Arnold, 9th grade, Diesel Technology. When asked what he scored, he said that one of his games was around 190! Way to go Cody and all the other Man/Tran students who participated in the all-school bowling tournament.

A special thanks to Ms. Kern and the other faculty members who helped out.

Freshmen Mixer

Today, our 9th grade Man/Tran students will get to attend the school-wide Freshmen Mixer, planned by our 9th grade advisors (Mr. Trimmer and Mrs. Stiger) and the class officers. Although we have a lot of pride in our own academy, it's great for the students to have an opportunity to mix with students throughout our school to be exposed to the diverse student population. There will be a DJ, food, and other activities. The students will attend during the 9th grade activity period, and they can stay after school and enjoy the mixer until 5:15pm.

Thanks to Mr. Trimmer, Mrs. Stiger and the freshmen class officers for their hard work in planning this event!

New Secretary

Today, our new secretary, Monica Reinsfelder, begins training here in the M/T office. Please welcome her! Monica has many years of experience as a school secretary, and she has worked as a part-time clerk in the Engineering and Construction Academy office for the past year. She will be replacing Deb Brown, who will be moving to a new position in the Student Services office. Deb will be missed here in the Man/Tran office.

Spartan Head

Look at this fabulous donation to the school, being made by Luis Castillo in Welding. When it's finished, the Spartan Head (YCST mascot) will be hanging in one of the hallways in the school. Thanks to Luis for donating his graduation project to us!

PAA competition

Wish our Automotive Technology students, Mike Ruff and Shannon Wise good luck as they compete in the Pennsylvania Automotive Association competition in Hershey on Wed, March 3. They've both been working hard, having the opportunity to work with the Giambalvo Buick dealership to train for the competition on a 2010 LaCrosse.

9th graders in shops today

Today is a very exciting day for our 9th grade students. They are having the opportunity to meet with their shop teachers together, for the first time possibly since selecting their shops. For those who don't know, the 9th graders are taking general pathway courses for the rest of the year.