Superintendent

Superintendent

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Oh, what a night. . .

. . . and what a week it has been! Tonight I was honored to accept the Golden Shovel Award on behalf of Vantage Career Center at the annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner. It was extra special because several of the people who have worked hard throughout our construction project were there with me. Vantage had a full table: Board President Lonnie Nedderman and Board members Kim Brandt, Linda Owens, and our administrative team-- Director Bob Vennekotter, Adult Ed Director Pete Prichard,  Supervisors Ted Verhoff, Ben Winans, and Mary Ann Hall, and Public Relations Coordinator MaryJo Wilhelm.

This week has been hectic, mostly due to the timing of the CTE testimony we were asked to give on Tuesday afternoon at Apollo Career Center in Lima. Governor Kasich's joint Workforce Committee listened to our testimony, which included two area employers, FWT and Miller Precision Manufacturing, Vantage precision machining instructor Larry Ray, and myself. Fielding the questions asked afterward by the legislators was a rare opportunity. I will say that it went well, and I was grateful to several staff members and our students who could attend and listen to the testimony. It felt good, knowing they were there with me.

Our two students who attended, Isaac and Caleb, both from Mr. Ray's Precision Machining program, were introduced to the crowd during Larry's testimony. They were beaming from ear to ear! Isaac will attend Sinclair Community College and work in Dayton for a company who will help pay for his college education. Caleb won first place in the Ohio SkillsUSA milling and turning contest and will go on to state competition in April. We are so proud of both of them! And we have many more students like Caleb and Isaac, who are why we come to work every day--it just makes sense to be a career technical educator and help kids find their way into solid occupations.

Tuesday's events weren't over though after the testimony, because Representative Lynn Wachtmann offered us tickets to the State of the State address! It really was exciting to be in the crowd, hearing "live" what progress Ohio has made and what the Governor's goals are for the year ahead. All in all, "oh what a night" pretty much sums up this whole week! But we have a great night coming up yet--Grand Open House is on Monday, Feb. 25. Try to attend the ceremony at 5 p.m. in the commons, and then take a long tour around our new school ! Light refreshments will be available. Come out and help us celebrate our new school! Afterward, maybe you, too, will be saying, "Oh, what a night"!