Do you help your Tech School?

How many people here give to the local tech schools? I am a member of the advisory board for the electronics department at my local tech school. I am also a former student of the program and know they have a small budget and few things to work with. I have also made donations of parts and this last spring I took in an intern for 6 weeks.



We also got some good donations from Igus this spring. What other companies should we be asking for donations?

I would love to teach but... I live in the middle of no mans land, the only tech school around teaches how to pluck chickens and speak Spanish (not that there is anything wrong with another language), someday when I move closer to civilization and let these cows automate themselves, I will look into teaching or helping

I have made a few donations when I find someone that could use what I have or what we are tossing out, one companies junk is another (smart) mans treasure

The company has donated some items that I/we may not use.

We don't have a tech school. We have a university.

I was asked to teach 1 hour of a mechatronics class at WSU at Vancouver last spring. We are used as an example of what the real control industry is about.
We show our controller and videos of the controllers in action. I got a WSU coffee mug.

I have done the same thing at once OSU Youngstown. I was in the area and the instructor asked to give a presentation.

1 hour classes are tough. It takes a few minutes just to get setup.

CharlesM,

When I was with TURCK I gave products all of the time to Tech Schools that asked. That was the key, they had to ask for products. I worked with Lee College in Baytown, TX, University of Texas-Austin, Austin Community College, Purdue Food Science Dept., etc.. they all have products from TURCK in their labs. Send me a PM with your info and I shall see what I can do to get some stuff from TURCK, Banner, & RedLion.

Regards,
Joe_WaZoo

I taught 'till the school went belly up. I now give all my leftovers and sometimes more (I hope the boss doesn't read this)to a local underfunded votech school.

Thanks for the help

Charles,

Are you looking or just thinking out loud? if so what are you looking for? I have been told to clean up (today)... but today may turn into the next few weeks, servo-dual axis? small but it may give them something to play with and learn the code, not sure but I think thats on the list, I have to check what else is going in the big can...

I have not yet but think I will try to this semester. I usually just help those I know from school (a University) when I can.

Are you looking or just thinking out loud?

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Just thinking out loud. I just wanted to see who else does this type of thing. Its also good to know which companies donate to schools. This last year we got some good stuff from Igus.

The two problems we have is materials and getting students. We have a small program with about 20 students max. Most of the time we have about 12 - 15. I would say 90% walk into a job when they get done we just have a hard time getting them into the program. The area that I live in everyone just wants a nice clean office job.

CharlesM said:

Just thinking out loud. I just wanted to see who else does this type of thing. Its also good to know which companies donate to schools.

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We do just donate but we do provide good prices to qualified schools. We aim for the more advanced schools. MSOE ( Milwaukee school of Engineering ) and Purdue. One of the best hydraulics labs in the country is in Spokane WA but I don't remember the name of the school.

The two problems we have is materials and getting students. We have a small program with about 20 students max. Most of the time we have about 12 - 15.

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20 is a good number for a college class. 12-15 is iffy. Some colleges will cancel the class if they don't get a minimum number of students.

I would say 90% walk into a job when they get done we just have a hard time getting them into the program. The area that I live in everyone just wants a nice clean office job.

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I don't understand that. I learn something almost every time I go into the field. These are things you don't learn in a book. The problem is that I wouldn't be able to do research if I was in the field all the time. It is all about balance.

Peter Nachtwey said:

...I learn something almost every time I go into the field..

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So do I Peter, but most of the time... its I should of paid more attention in school

Focus group

I recently was a member of a focus group which interviewed staff and students involved in the SWTC program. There were some interesting findings, and the class sizes they experience are very similar to what you've mentioned.

First, they did nothing other than an open house to attract students. One of our suggestions was for the school administration to evaluate each program and decide which ones need the advertisement and which do not. For example, they have an ad in the local paper advertizing a nursing program which is full year after year. Meanwhile, the industrial occupations division is struggling even though the job market is great.

Once the programs have been identified as needing recruitment help, we suggested they picked a target audience and recruited from that. It does no good to try to sell someone shopping for groceries a car. Likewise, they should be in high schools talking to the kids who are in the shop/mechanics/electronics/computer classes.

Lastly, a HUGE reason recruitment is down is that a TC degree is frowned on largely when compared to that of a university. I lay blame for this on the college itself. In fact, one of the faculty we interviewed said that they really try not to turn anyone away. They are BEGGING for people. I'm sorry, but there are people who do not have what it takes to be in this type of field. You cannot keep prestige in your degree when you have people like this graduating and joining the workforce. They reflect poorly on the educational institution from which they came. Hence the whole university requirements of XXXXGPA and ACT/SAT scores.

That is about as much as I have done lately, though I do hope it was useful and aids their program some.

russmartin touched on a huge point.

The requirements for leading a school are an advanced education and not much experience outside of their courses of study. Out here in the real world folks earn their way to the top and are held accountable for preformance. If you do not know where your market is then you certainly do not know what your product is. The academic folks that I knew didn't have a clue.

This country is in more trouble that it thinks.

The High School thing is key. Design something that will turn heads and show the young students what this Automation stuff is all about. Another thing you could do is partner with High Schools. Have your students build trainers and let the High Schools lease them. When they have a problem they can call on one of your College students for support.

To bring in money for the program and possibly for yourself you could train people out in the industry, or even have them come to your school for training. You can also write Grants to the State for income.

I would also consider partnering with your local distributor, if your distributor does training; let them do at your school. This brings companies into your school and the partnerships start building.

All of this requires the instructors to go beyond what they are supposed to do. However, if you want more students and great partnerships, these are the things that you could do. If you don't like something it's up to you to make it better.

I personally see a College as a window of full opportunity.