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Trades

Partnership Continues Between Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) Carpentry Apprentices and Gas Utility Construction Program

Training Neighborhood

On Friday, February 22nd, 2019 on a beautiful late-winter day, 9 ABC Carpentry Apprentices, under the guidance of their instructor, Gary Roehrig, installed custom-made, heavy-duty cabinets into two of the houses in the Gas Utility Construction Training Neighborhood on the Beaver Dam campus. The carpenter apprentices built the cabinets in the woodshop on the West Bend campus, where they attend school, as part of their Advanced Cabinetmaking course. This course was developed and is being taught by Mr. Roehrig, a long-time instructor for the apprenticeship at Moraine Park.

The partnership between the apprenticeship program and the Gas Utility Construction program began unwittingly two years ago when, as part of their formal instruction, the carpenter apprentices built six 8×12 foot ‘sheds’ to gain practice designing and building small wooden structures. The original intent of this effort was to sell the sheds to local business or homeowners for use as brat-fry stands or for personal use. During the same time, planning was well underway to create the new gas program on the Beaver Dam campus, when the idea arose to use the 6 sheds—now called ‘houses’—to form a training neighborhood that gas program students could use for their own training.

The idea took hold, and even expanded to include two additional houses that were configured to be able to store tools and small equipment, thus making a training neighborhood of 8 houses. In late April, 2018, the 8 houses were transported from the West Bend woodshop and placed on concrete pads at the Beaver Dam campus, in time for the new program to start in June. Business and industry partners who contributed to the gas program capital campaign had plaques attached to the sides of the houses in recognition of their generosity.

As this phase of the partnership was reaching its’ end, a collaborative idea between Steve Horvath, Associate Dean of Trades, and Gary Roehrig came up, which was to have this year’s carpenter apprentices build the cabinets for the 2 extra houses. The intent in installing the heavy-duty cabinets is that in the future, the gas program students and instructor will be able to store supplies and small equipment out ‘in the field’, where it will be handy to access, rather than have to go back into the main lab for what is needed. For their part, the carpenter apprentices gained valuable skills in designing and building top-quality cabinets from scratch.

When the task was completed in the early afternoon of Feb. 22nd, Associate Dean Horvath thanked the carpentry apprentices and their instructor, telling them they had accomplished a task that is much appreciated and one which will have a long-lasting positive impact on another program in the college.

April 11, 2019by Stephen Horvath
Auto & Transportation

A Helping Hand

Nathan Automotive

I’d like you to meet Nathan Zielieke, an Automotive Tech student at MPTC. Nathan gave me a helping hand, literally, at Kwik Trip a few weeks back, and I feel he deserves positive recognition for his good deed!

Let’s just say I MAY have been quite a bit overdue for an oil change when I happened to see him leaving the store asked him “How far over is TOO far overdue?” Without hesitation, Nathan asked, “Would you like me to check your oil level?” I declined at first, but he kindly insisted and I’m glad he did!

He pointed out “Your oil should really be up to this line on the stick, and it’s way down here, you should probably go into the store and buy a quart. I’ll come in with you.”

Nathan didn’t stop there, he proceeded to put the oil in – cupping his hand in place of a funnel. What an upstanding citizen and all around nice guy!

When I asked Nathan how he became interested in cars and working on them, his face lit up, “I’ve been working in the shop, tearing down engines and restoring old cars with my dad and grandpa since before I could walk. My dad and I keep my grandpa’s old cars running and bring them to car shows. I haven’t missed the Iola Car Show and Swap Meet since I was six.”

“Right now I’m working on turning the first car my dad bought at age 11 into a drag racing car, it’s a 1958 Ford Custom 300. I’m also restoring a 1984 F350 and getting a 65 F250 running. I can fix anything that has an engine 4-wheelers, boats, lawnmowers, snowmobiles, dirt-bikes, you name it.”

I asked Nathan about his time here at Moraine Park and what his future holds he said, “I like it here, I enjoy the instructors, the real-life experiences and all the joking around. I work in a shop in Fond du Lac right now, but after I graduate next year, I want to find a job in restoration. Someday, I want to own a shop restoring old cars – nothing beats a classic.”

Thank you, Nathan, for being such a great guy- and for using your Moraine Park skills for those in need!

morainepark.edu/automotive-technician

April 11, 2019by Jackie Vincent

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