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12 | Transportation Today Wisconsin™ Online Edition: www.transportationtodaywi.com
Whitewater Tech Ed Students Receive ASE Certifications Continued from Page 1
15 years before I was born . . . He taught me ment of Public Instruction (DPI) website, was rabilia, Buntrock said, adding that when Mansky This year, Buntrock engaged with nearly
about mechanics,” Buntrock said in the earlier re-enacted in 2018 and set in motion in 2019 to suggested the idea, he thought it was “wild and 100 students through such course offerings as
interview. serve as a mechanism used to establish regional cool.” Automotives 1 and 2, Metals 1 and 2, and a class
Buntrock said his brother chose a career in pathways, increase the rigor of work-based pro- about “car care,” he said.
the automotive field, but he was drawn to teach- grams, improve student performance through Growing the program Next year, there will be some additional
ing. focused activities and support, and expand non- Looking at the success of the high school’s course offerings, including Advanced Auto and a
As an automotive instructor, he said, he traditional occupations, among other goals. The tech ed program, Buntrock said he arrived at a class called “small engines,” among others.
found a way to use both sets of skills. federal program is grant-based and facilitated at time of change, and while a foundation was in As he looks toward the future of the White-
As a teacher, he noted, he finds helping stu- the state level. place, he saw room for growth. water High School tech ed department, he said:
dents develop a career path equally as inspiring Buntrock described opportunities made He works within the tech ed department “I’m most excited about the opportunities I know
as giving them the ability to become self-reliant. available through the program as “substantial.” with fellow tech ed teacher Mason Pautsch, who I can provide my students through the support of
joined the high school staff during the 2020-21
Information about the program as pre-
Supporting the tech ed program sented on the DPI website is here: https://dpi. school year and teaches woods and construction, the administration and the district.”
Now, almost a year in, he said, he feels con-
Along with supporting his students, Bun- wi.gov/cte/carl-perkins. Buntrock noted. nected to his students.
trock said he wanted to embrace an opportunity As a teacher who is new in the district, “Everything feels good, and strong,” he
to develop tech ed programming. Buntrock said his building principal saw Buntrock said he has spent time building rela- said.
Within the Whitewater Unified School Dis- an increase in opportunities brought by the ASE tionships and rapport with his students, and he
trict, he said, he was impressed by the level of certification program and offered his support to and Pautsch have worked together to grow the
support for the tech ed program, and for embrac- the tech ed program through development of the department into a place through which they can whs.wwusd.org
ing opportunities brought through the ASE customized shirts. “give our students the best learning opportunities
certification process, which, he noted, can help Additional collaboration was established at we can.
support his automotive classroom budget. the high school when members from the school’s “We are on the right track,” he said. Article and photos by Kim McDarison,
He made reference to the “Carl D. Perkins: home economics department were tapped to sew Within the tech ed environment they have Publisher/editor/reporter for the Fort Atkinson
Strengthening CTE (career and technical educa- the ASE patch onto each recipient’s shirt. collectively envisioned, Buntrock said, the focus Online. Reprinted with permission.
tion) for the 21st Century Act,” which, according The shirts worked well as an incentivizing is on safety, while offering a “creative, career-
to information found on the Wisconsin Depart- tool because each student saw it as school memo- oriented and life-skills-oriented area for growth.”
STEAM Grants Awarded to Three Area School Districts Continued from Page 4
Wittenberg- claw and then put it back
in a bucket outside of the
Birnamwood course. There’s two or three
School District of them. Those have to go
inside a house that is built
Urban Search and and also go up and down
Rescue Robot some ramps in a certain
amount of time. And there
The Wittenberg- is also a written test to dem-
Birnamwood School onstrate your knowledge of
District received $1,000 different robotic laws and
for an urban Search and how everything is built.”
Rescue Robot that will When driving the
be used by students in robot in competitions,
Skills uSA competitions Novy said she will need
that are held throughout to drive it without looking
Members of the student Skills USA group at Wittenberg/
the state of Wisconsin. at the robot. An iPhone is Birnamwood High School, Kalene Rasmussen, Sabine Yaeger,
District competitions are mounted on the robot, and Chekotey Horachek, Dustin Yaeger, and Marli Novy, with group
held at high schools, while the robot must be maneu- advisor Caleb McPhail, accept STEAM grant funds from Central
regional competitions are vered by the view provided Wisconsin Electric Cooperative.
Tigerton High School Science teacher Chad Pritzl, high school held at universities or tech- by the iPhone. school.
student Loghan Wanta, Tech. Ed. teacher Tim Schmidt, and nical colleges. From state McPhail said this year is the first year the
Tigerton High School/Middle School Principal Nate Johnson with competitions, there is an Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District has “All these different competitions, the things
the exercise bike that will be used to build an energy bike for opportunity to qualify for they prep for, we don’t have time throughout the
students to learn about electricity. competed in the robotic challenge. day, our normal day periods for them to come
Nationals. “Marli (Novy) saw it last year when we
lead with the project and we’ll build it right in Caleb McPhail, Tech- were doing other competitions and she really in,” he said.
McPhail added that primarily two to three
the classroom,” Pritzl said. nology Education and Woodshop teacher at wanted to get into that,” McPhail said. students helped build the robot for competition.
Pritzl added that he believes the project Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School who Novy, a student, said she is interested in “The nice thing about this is we can disas-
will engage some of the students who are oversees the students participating in Skills engineering. semble it at the end of the year,” McPhail said.
reluctant learners in the learning process, uSA, said the robot used in competitions “This looked like a good opportunity to “It packages all back up and we can start from
especially during the design and fabrication throughout the state will be operated by a learn more and be able to create something that scratch the following year. So, we can reuse
process. It will also provide more advanced student who must perform specific tasks with actually creates something that’s used,” Novy it over multiple years with different students
learners an opportunity to explore electrical the robot that are already pre-established. said. “And it’s something that should help me having to go through and basically redesign it.”
engineering. “There’s a course you have to go through, with whatever I decide to do.”
and in this course, you have two mailboxes,” said McPhail said all the work done associ-
Marli Novy, a student who will be operating the ated with Skills uSA events is done during the
www.tigerton.k12.wi.us robot in competitions. “In some of the mailboxes students’ free time, which includes time after www.wittbirn.k12.wi.us
there is going to be a cube you pick up with the