January / February 2018

GIBSON

TECHNICAL

CENTER

GIBSON

TECHNICAL

CENTER

386 W. Hwy. 76

Reeds Spring, MO 65737

417-272-3271

Website:

http://gt.rs-wolves.com/

Follow us on Twitter:

@gibson_tech

Sophomore Spring Tours

GTC has almost

completed tours for our

ten sending school soph-

omores and juniors this

spring. Prospective stu-

dents were bused to

GTC and toured several

classes. These students

were able to visit at least

three different programs

that interested them in

order to decide if they

wanted to enroll in a

CTE class.

Student advisors and

instructors visited with

students about their pro-

gram and the great op-

portunities that Gibson

Tech has to offer. Stu-

dents seemed very excit-

ed during their tour and

we expect our enroll-

ment to increase for the

7th year in a row!

From the Director

Winter has Arrived! Just when we thought we were going to slide through winter

without a snow day. February will be a busy month for GTC. We have the majority of our sophomore student tours scheduled for the first part of the month. We really appreciate our sending schools taking the time to schedule their students to tour Gib-son Tech and let them see first-hand the valuable skills students are learning.

This is also the month that we celebrate Career Technical Edu-

cation (CTE). GTC has a full month of activities planned for our

students such as Celebrate All Careers, Dress for Success Day, In-

terview Day, and Employer/Speaker Day. February is also the

month for our student organizations to start their regional competi-

tions. SkillsUSA and HOSA clubs all have been sharpening their

skills to compete at the district level in hopes of making it to state

and national finals.

Good luck GTC students!

Nick Thieman, Director

nthieman@wolves.k12.mo.us

What is CTE? Career and technical education, or CTE, is education that di-

rectly prepares students for high-wage, high-demand careers.

CTE covers many different fields, including health care, infor-

mation technology, advanced manufacturing, hospitality and

management and many more, as described in the national Ca-

reer Clusters® and ACTE's What is CTE? page. CTE encom-

passes many different types of education, from classroom learn-

ing to certification programs to work-based learning opportuni-

ties outside the classroom.

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JANUARY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH

Mr. Chris Jenkins, Instructor with Dakota Fodge, MarineTechnology

BransonHigh School

Student of the Month AM Block

Dakota Fodge Branson High School

Dakota Fodge is a second year

Marine Technology student from

Branson. Dakota has excelled with

in his program and is an important

member of the Gibson Tech Student

Advisory team. Dakota is already

enrolled at UTI in Orlando Florida

where he will continue his training in

Marine Technology. Good Luck

Dakota!

Student of the Month PM Block

Morgan Essary Reeds Spring High School

Morgan Essary is a second year student

from Early Childhood Careers. Morgan has

been very involved at GTC the past two

years. She is currently serving as the

SkillsUSA president and a member of the

GTC Student Advisory team. Morgan will

be moving on the state competition again this

year. Morgan’s plans after high school are to

attend SBU in Bolivar and pursue a career in

Elementary Education. Good Luck Morgan!

Mrs. Sherry Dodson, Instructor with Morgan Essary, Early Childhood Careers

BransonHigh School

Early Childhood Careers 1st place- Kaytlin Fitzwater, Reeds Spring Culinary Arts

1st Place- Sophia Rivera- Blue-Eye 2nd Place- Audri Sweeney- Branson 3rd Place- Taylor Buckner- Branson

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SkillsUSA District Competition Winners

Health Technology 2nd Place Mackenzie Duvall- Reeds Spring 3rd Place Carter Sadler- Reeds Spring 5th Place Bailey Locke- Reeds Spring (not pictured)

GTC students participated in district SkillsUSA competitions which were hosted in Joplin, Carthage

and Monett Career Centers. Gibson Tech students competed against students from dozens of high

schools including Springfield, Joplin, Neosho and came away with excellent performances. Students

who finished either first or second will move on to state competitions in Jefferson City and Columbia.

Automotive Technology 4th place– Kyle Wittmus—Reeds Spring

Morgan Essary & Allysa Gammons will represent

Gibson Tech at SkillsUSA State Competition in the

category of Informational Bulletin Boards.

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Gibson Tech had six students par-

ticipate in an Annual Welding Com-

petition at Missouri Welding Institute

in Nevada Missouri. Each one of the

GTC students received a $1000 schol-

arship to MWI. Congratulations!

From left to right: Robert Barnes (Branson), Jason Whittaker (Bradleyville), Noah Crosson (Reeds Spring), Seth Wal-lace (Branson), John Harrison (Blue-Eye) Jarrett Chambers (Galena).

Congratulations to Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Young! Gibson Technical Center was the recipient of two $500 grants from White River Valley Electric

Cooperative. Construction Technology re-

quested assistance with the purchase of elec-

trician tool kits and electric meters. Students

will use the tools in the kits to practice wiring

skills. The Marine Technology program was

also awarded a $500 grant to help pay for a

water-pump rebuilding lesson. The purchase

of the pumps will allow students to work on

up-to-date parts and have enough water

pumps to allow everyone access to the hands

on activity.

Culinary Arts Award Gibson Technical Center’s Culinary Arts students were recently served a sweet surprise by being

named to the 2018 Elite 50, an annual selection of the top high school hospitality programs in the na-

tion.

The National Center for

Hospitality Studies at Sulli-

van University in Louisville

oversees the selection pro-

cess for the Elite 50. Sulli-

van is known for having one

of the finest post-secondary

hospitality training institu-

tions in the nation.

To be considered for the

Elite 50, schools had to sub-

mit an original recipe with

photos or a restaurant man-

agement design; two essays

from students on the topic, “Why I want to pursue a career in hospitality;” and videos, brochures, and

additional information about the school’s hospitality program. Further considerations were given to

schools that operate a restaurant, catering service, or similar food service operation as part of its culi-

nary and hospitality training.

SPOTLIGHT ON

Culinary Arts Gibson Tech Center Culinary Arts program is a great place for students to get hands

on experience in the Hospitality and Restaurant Industry. Our program is a two year pro-

gram that allows students to get a “taste” of most aspects of the industry.

Students started the year getting certified in safety and sanitation. Many students received their

National ServSafe Certificates from the National Restaurant Association. Our program has articu-

lation agreements with local and national schools so those students will not need to take that class

in college. Our program recently was named to the Elite 50, an annual selection of top high school

hospitality programs from Sullivan University.

Students spend time in the classroom and in the kitchen (lab) environment learning many of the

Culinary basics: soups, stocks, cooking methods, sauces and baking. Students will have the oppor-

tunity to do some catering both on and off campus. The students usually prepare lunch for commu-

nity members and staff on Thursdays.

Our students are currently working on yeast breads. We have been making cinnamon rolls,

pretzels, bread, dinner rolls and pizza dough. The class often sells their treats to other students dur-

ing break.

We currently have four students that have been working hard preparing for SkillsUSA district

competition. The students will be competing in baking and culinary in Joplin this month.

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Spotlight on Collision Repair The 2017-18 has been a great year for the Auto Collision Repair Program here at Gibson

Tech. We have several things to celebrate so far and the year isn’t quite three quarters over

yet! This year students have focused on learning skills primarily from the non-structural or

body shop side of the industry. Next year we will concentrate on the refinish side. During

our “Live Labs” students have practiced

and honed their skills in sheet metal re-

pair including “roughing out” the dam-

aged metal, using body filler to “finish”

the damage, spraying primer and block

sanding to prepare the panel for refin-

ishing. Our program’s new Dent-Fix DF

-505 weld-on dent puller gave the stu-

dents the opportunity to use equipment

that they would encounter in most repair

facilities across the industry.

For the last several weeks the collision

students have been learning both in the

classroom and through “Live Labs” sev-

eral methods of plastic repair. The stu-

dents have been enjoying taking the knowledge they gain on classroom days and putting it to use by

practicing two sided adhesive and plastic welding repairs. Our next skill that we cover this year will be

mig-welding.

The second year Collision Repair students are happy to be in the final stages of a long term project

they started last school year. We are in the process of

refinishing a 1994 Ford F-150. We have sprayed a cus-

tom mixed “Viper silver” base and will be laying out

tribal flames in a metallic blue. Grant Cavins from

S&L Collision Center in Branson is coming in to help

us design and mask off the flamed graphics. He will

then demonstrate airbrushing highlights/shadowing to

give the blue flames more depth. I’m excited for my

students to experience one of the more artistic aspects

of our trade!

I would like to thank a few people for making this

year as great as it has been. I want to give a big thanks

to both Phil Rowe of Lesonal Paints and Paul Lowry

of D&A Distributing for working together to donate a

Lesonal SB solvent paint system to our program. My

students have learned many valuable lessons using the state of art paint formula camera, computerized

mixing system and toner bank. The newly donated equipment allows our students to identify the best

color match and then mix the basecoat from various toners on the mixing bank. Once the base coat has

been properly reduced they are refinishing our projects with quality products from Lesonal Paints. I

would also like to thank two of my student’s: Bailey Kelley [senior Reeds Spring] and Kyle Carr [junior

Hollister]. These two have displayed strong leadership qualities in both the classroom and lab settings. I

believe they can both accomplish great things in the Collision Repair Industry or anything they set their

minds to. Great work guys!

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GTC Celebrates CTE Month During February

Speakers

More Celebrate CTE Events

Interviewing

Career Games

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