Wisconsin Technology Education Association Conference
On February 25th, I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at the 47th annual Wisconsin Technology Education Association’s (WTEA) Conference held at the Chula Vista Resort. The conference promotes CTE programs and provides workshops to improve programming for both educators and students, while also encouraging networking and best practices. The focus of my presentation was to showcase what can be done with education and industry partnerships to raise awareness of career opportunities in technical trades.
I was honored to be introduced by Dr. Bryan Albrecht, President of Gateway Technical College, and as I sat waiting for my queue to go on stage I looked out over the room: there were roughly 180 educators from around the state out there in the audience – all responsible for developing the next generation of manufacturing and skilled trade professionals, or as I like to call them, our next generation of problem solvers.
When we get right down to it that’s really what we need these days: problem solvers. My presentation, titled “The Renaissance of Technical Education,” looked at our journey from the dark ages of manufacturing, where “dark, dirty & dangerous” ruled, to the great opportunities that exist today within world class manufacturing facilities. However, our greatest challenge in attracting the next generation of the best and brightest to technical education is changing the outdated perceptions of skilled trades and manufacturing that remain in those dark ages.
We are all ignorant of some things, and our perceptions are based on our own life experiences. If we have not experienced something first hand, we are either reliant on information provided by others, or we fall back to images from years ago. Images, in the case of manufacturing, which have become long outdated and obsolete. In my presentation, I shared those images from long ago and we saw them for what they were: a reminder of how far we’ve come. The images from modern engineering and manufacturing depict clean and well-lit facilities – the environments that are a centerpiece in what is today, one of the most innovative and creative fields in the nation. I discussed our education partnerships with high schools, tech colleges, Milwaukee School of Engineering and even WI Project Lead the Way (PLTW). I spoke about our technical partnerships with Autodesk (Inventor 3D CAD modeling), Partmaker (CAM software), and our fellow business partners that have stepped forward to make a difference. We looked at how to find and engage with one another and how to offer assistance to anyone willing to start the partnership journey.
The proof is in the pudding. Sharing success stories of some of our interns, like Gordon Kaskin, Charlie Dall, Brad Pearson and Amanda Mudlaff is what it’s all about. Connecting with educators to provide learning opportunities to these bright young minds is the only way to introduce them to the beauty of technical trades and the rewarding careers that follow. Manufacturing careers deserve to be celebrated, as do the people innovative enough to succeed in them. Below are two of my favorite videos highlighting these fields. The first depicts some of the creative and professional opportunities that await for manufacturing and engineering students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQLVT0bfgaU
The second is all about overcoming adversity, whether it’s through problem solving, tenacity, or engineering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=050g49t1OGQ
In the end, I thanked all of the instructors for everything they do and the passion they bring to the classroom. Without them, there would be no need for a presentation from me. They are the true heroes; making a difference in the lives of the students they connect with in the classrooms, passing on the technical skills and knowledge required to succeed, and most importantly, providing the world with the engineers who keep it running smoothly. Just think, where would we be without them? After all, there’s a reason we’ve come so far from those dark ages.
