Moraine Park apprentice, John Dondlinger, employed by Eagle Construction Co., Inc. in Wisconsin Rapids, was named as the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2019 Apprentice of the Year at the ABC annual graduation banquet in Wisconsin Dells.

The Apprentice of the Year award goes to an apprentice who is in good standing, is at least half-way through the apprenticeship program, demonstrates a high degree of professionalism, and is highly regarded by other apprentices, instructors, and employers. Dondlinger is known for his quiet presence in the classroom and is regarded as a lead-by-example student who is willing to jump in and help others understand how to complete a task correctly.

Moraine Park Alumni, Jacob Moody, served as the event keynote speaker. Moody, a 2018 graduate from the carpentry apprenticeship, is a journeyman carpenter for Kraemer Brothers in Plain. He joined the Kraemer Brothers team in 2007 as a laborer, and today he holds two apprenticeship completion cards in the state of Wisconsin for construction craft laborer and carpentry. Moody also took first place in carpentry at the ABC of Wisconsin Skills Competition in 2018 and went on to win first place at ABC’s National Craft Championships.

In his speech, Moody recalled his journey through apprenticeship and thanked those who helped him along the way, particularly Moraine Park instructor Gary Roehrig and Darrell Kraemer of Kraemer Brothers. He highlighted his experiences competing at the National Craft Championships and encouraged the soon-to-be-graduates to stay involved in ABC.

“These apprentices are now journeymen in their trade who will add each and every one of their abilities to our workforce,” Moody said. “There are going to be many more opportunities for all of you. Just remember don’t be afraid, don’t put boundaries around you, never stop learning, and enjoy your lives while you’re at it.”

Moraine Park is also celebrating its solid partnership with ABC. 2019 marks the fourth consecutive year that a Moraine Park student has been selected as the Apprentice of the Year and also the third consecutive year that the keynote speaker is an alumnus from the College.

morainepark.edu

A total of 14 Moraine Park apprentices will benefit from the Tools of the Trade scholarship offered by Ascendium Education Group scholarship (formerly Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates).

Currently, both the construction and industrial trade industries have a high demand for skilled workers. An apprenticeship offers up to five years of real-world work experience while attending school, and businesses gain access to skilled workers with legitimate on-the-job experience. However, financial pressure can make it hard to complete an apprenticeship, and students are often juggling the demands of school, work, and family. Additionally, apprentices incur substantial costs beyond tuition, such as purchasing tools, clothing, and other supplies. The Tools of the Trade scholarship provides funding to help cover those expenses.

“Many students struggle to meet the financial obligations of their school commitments on top of their personal obligations,” Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park president said. “We serve many first-generation, low-income students. This generous gift will certainly ease the burden and help them purchase the tools of their trade. My sincere appreciation to Ascendium Education Group for their interest in helping our apprentices succeed!”

The Moraine Park apprentices who received the 2019 Tools of the Trade scholarship are, Brock Ayers of West Bend, Austin Baumann of Rubicon, Nicholas Beine of Campbellsport, Aaron Brewer of Slinger, Jeremiah Cantrall of Fredonia, Jared Deming of Jackson, Joshua Frederick of Horicon, Kate Kilp of Milwaukee, Ethan Moldenhauer of West Bend, Daniel Reineke of Oostburg, Robert Riedijk of Milwaukee, Ripley Sartain of Port Washington, Taylor Schauer of Plymouth, and Erick Schmidt of Waupun.

Each student receives a total of $1,500 for the 2019-20 school year. A total of $298,500 in scholarships were awarded to 199 construction and industrial trades apprentices from 15 Wisconsin Technical College System institutions.

For more information on Moraine Park apprenticeship opportunities, visit morainepark.edu.

Moraine Park Technical College carpentry student, Chad St. John, recently participated in the 32^nd annual National Craft Championships (NCC) during the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2019 convention in Long Beach, Calif.

The NCC event allows for skilled trainees and apprentices from across the country compete for top honors by demonstrating their superior skills, training, and safe work practices. It features a field of 168 craft professionals competing for top honors in 14 competitions representing 12 crafts, from electrical and plumbing to carpentry and welding, as well as a team competition with journey-level competitors from four different crafts working to complete a joint project. The competition included a two-hour written exam and a day-long, hands-on practical performance test.

St. John, a carpentry apprentice for Northcentral Construction Corporation, took the bronze award in the competition’s residential-commercial carpentry division. St. John had advanced to the NCC after receiving the top score in carpentry during ABC of Wisconsin’s Skills Competition on Jan. 25 in West Bend.

For more information on Moraine Park programs, like carpentry, visit morainepark.edu.

Moraine Park’s Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Carpentry Apprentice classes have been busy this year! Recently they completed a project for the West Bend VFW, by constructing a new brat stand.

“The Brat Stand project came about when Norbert Carter, a Korean War veteran and Flag Day Committee member of the West Bend Veterans of Foreign Wars, made contact with me about the possibility of the Carpentry classes assisting in the construction of a new stand to replace their existing building,” Gary Roehrig, MPTC carpentry instructor said. “From that initial contact, it was determined the building would be a project the classes could construct. A plan was developed, and construction began in December.”

The electrical work was installed and completed by one of the electrical apprentice classes at the West Bend campus. Drexel Building Supply of Campbellsport and Atlas Roofing donated materials for the building.

Construction was completed the week of March 25. The VFW club members painted the structure in Moraine Park’s carpentry lab, and the building was moved the week of April 1 to its permanent location at the intersection of Highway 33 and 15th Avenue in West Bend.

“Class projects similar to this have been a part of the curriculum for the carpentry apprentice classes throughout the years,” Gary said. “They provide an opportunity to use skills being taught in class and putting them into immediate practice in the class laboratory activities. It also allows the classes to engage in community service activities that should be an essential component of any life-long career.”

Other carpentry apprentice class projects include:

• The construction of new closet storage cabinets in the Carpentry lab at the West Bend campus.
• Third and fourth-year carpentry apprentices constructed cabinets for the new Gas Technicians class at the Beaver Dam campus. These cabinets were installed in two of the eight buildings that were constructed last year. (Construction of those eight buildings was the in-class project for the 2017-2018 school year.)

For more information, visit morainepark.edu.

On Friday, February 22^nd, 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. 22^nd, 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.

Moraine Park Technical College’s first Gas Utility Technician class celebrated their program completion on Thursday, March 14.

In 2017, the College announced their plans to construct an Energy Education Center (EEC) at the Beaver Dam campus, as an answer to industry demands for skilled gas utility technicians. Supporters for the project include Alliant Energy, KS Energy Services, Madison Gas and Electric, Michels Corporation, We Energies, and Wisconsin Public Service. The EEC opened in June 2018, and the first Gas Utility Technician group began their training.

“Students in this program receive top-notch instruction,” Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park president said. “They work through real gas utility scenarios in the Training Neighborhood, have access to the latest technology, and undergo thorough training to get them ready for the field.”

The 2019 class includes Alden Broome of Beaver Dam; Joseph Erdmann of Watertown; Samuel Gantner of Fond du Lac; Cody Gebhard of Brandon; Dylan Gilmore of Jackson; Connor Gray of Cottage Grove; Caleb Madrid of Watertown; Kaleb Mancheski of Deerfield; Ashton Mislivecek of Hillsboro; Zachary Muckerheide of West Bend; Ean Ries of Lomira; Jonah Rohde of Fond du Lac; Gavin Schultz of Waupun; Justin Schultz of Elkhart Lake; Jordan Snyder of Watertown. The graduates will receive their Gas Utility Technician technical diploma at Moraine Park’s annual commencement ceremony on May 18.

“I couldn’t be happier with the work that these students have put in over the past nine months,” Steve Logan, gas utility instructor at Moraine Park said. “In addition to learning the skills needed to be successful in a natural gas / underground construction career, they have learned an even greater lesson – that on the job and at home safety must always be their number one priority.”

Applications are now being accepted for the next group, set to begin in June 2019. The nine-month program is uniquely designed to train students and prepare them to fill industry needs for the following summer. Gas Utility Technicians are currently in high demand, with many positions ready to be filled. Graduates can expect to earn a median salary of $56,675.

Individuals interested in the Gas Utility Technician program can reach out to Sherry Hackbarth, an academic advisor at Moraine Park, at (920) 887-4425 or shackbarth@morainepark.edu.

For more information on Moraine Park, visit morainepark.edu.

Moraine Park Technical College carpentry students recently participated in the 2019 Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) of Wisconsin Skill Trade competition in West Bend.

The ABC of Wisconsin Skill competition is an all-day event that includes a four-hour hands-on practical exam and a two-hour written exam. Moraine Park had a total of four students participate, earning four of the eight medals in the competition.

The College’s students earned a complete sweep of the top three spots in the carpentry division. Chad St. John of Oshkosh, employed by Northcentral Construction Corporation, placed first; John Paul Rubenzer of Plover, employed by Altmann Construction Company, Inc, placed second; Brian Noone of Madison, employed by Stevens Construction Corp., placed third. Tyler Anderson of Oostburg, employed by DeTroye Electric Service, Inc., placed second in the electrical competition.

“Chad came to NorthCentral with very little construction experience,” Jim Brunet, general superintendent at North Central Construction Corp. said. “The past three years I have witnessed his growth in the construction industry, getting the knowledge and support from our experienced foreman and leadman. Having Chad go through the ABC apprenticeship will be a great asset for our company. He is now following in the footsteps of some of our past apprentices by going to nationals to compete and climbing the ladder of success at NorthCentral. I look forward to Chad being a great role  model for some of our younger apprentices in years to come, and we wish him the best of luck at nationals.”

St. John will represent Moraine Park Technical College at the ABC National Craftsman Championship in Long Beach, Calif. this March. This event allows for skilled trainees and apprentices from across the country compete for top honors by demonstrating their superior skills, training, and safe work practices. The championship is expected to have 200 competitors from across the nation.

For more information about Moraine Park Technical College, visit morainepark.edu.

When considering a career path, many look to the well-known careers that are out front and visual. Maybe this is because a relative, friend, or professional in the field that left a lasting impression. Regardless, when making career decisions we typically go through many processes, and sometimes we even change our paths mid-way.

Water quality technology is a career that is close to my heart. When I was in high school, I was unsure of what I wanted to do. As life unfolded, I found myself working in the field and it became apparent that I needed more education. So, enrolled in college as an adult learner. As time passed in my water quality technology career I found myself responsible for a wide variety of tasks and my education helped me to understand the many technologies and processes. I have been fortunate to have some positions in my career that have given me the opportunity to work locally, nationally, and even overseas. 

We often take for granted water running from our faucets, or in our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Even more, we rarely think of the skilled tradespeople who are working in water plants, providing safe drinking water for our communities and the environment.

So, why not consider a job in water quality technology? This career is rewarding, sustainable, challenging, and interesting, as well as very important. The most identifiable position is in municipal work, but there are also commercial and private industry positions as well. This career offers many opportunities all over the world. 

So, the next time you take a drink of water from the faucet, take a shower or even flush a toilet, know that someone has made all that possible. Maybe in the future, that someone will be you!

For more information on Moraine Park programs, like water technology, visit morainepark.edu.

Today’s Blog is all about Water Quality Technology, and although the profession is not on everyone’s radar for career choice, maybe it should get a serious look.

Continue reading