ESACC Newsletter

Career and Technical Education Month

From the Director

Students and faculty at Excelsior Springs Area Career Center joined others across the nation during the month of February to celebrate National Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. This year’s theme was CTE: Careers Through Education. CTE Month provided CTE programs across the country an opportunity to demonstrate how CTE educates students to be college and career ready and prepares them for high-wage, high-demand career fields.

ESACC NTHS (National Technical Honor Society) and SkillsUSA members have organized different activities to pro-mote CTE month. These activities included CTE Spirit Week (Feb. 4-8) and designing the trophy case in the main hall at the career center to highlight all programs. Excelsior Springs students invited ESHS staff to visit the Career Center on Friday, Feb. 8, to receive a quick tour of the facility.

ESACC Director Dr. Chris Lake shared, “We don’t want to look past career and technical education as a valid way for students to earn credentials and/or prepare students for college. CTE Month is a way to promote awareness and remind the community that there are multiple avenues to student success.”

Photo above: SkillsUSA and NTHS members Kelsey Cohalla (Liberty North), Dusty Pate (ESHS), Autumn Scott (ESHS), Caitlin Harris (Liberty), Mackenzie Hauck (ESHS), and Briar Bessmer (Lawson) planned CTE Spirit Week and pre-pared the display case to highlight all CTE programs at ESACC.

this issue

CTE Month P.1

From the Director P.1

Building News P.2-3

Program News P.4-5

SkillsUSA P.6-9

Program News P.10-11

Adult Education P. 12

I S S U E

M a r c h 2 0 1 3

01

March is already here and ESACC is already thinking about the end of the school year. It’s been a busy year and students recently competed at the district level for SkillsUSA in St. Joseph, Missouri. We have over 60 students who will have the opportunity to compete at the state competition at Linn State College on April 4-5. I am very proud of our students and teachers for working so hard to prepare for these competitions. SkillsUSA reflects in our program curriculum and lesson activities, and students are spending time honing their skills to prepare for upcoming competition.

Seniors are also preparing for their upcoming Technical Skills Attainment (TSA) and Compass test at the end of March and early April. TSA’s reflect skills students learn in their program area, and the Compass test reflects their reading, writing, and math academic skills. Both tests are very important and help determine how college and career ready each student is. We use data from these tests to help drive our building goals.

Students in Building Trades, HVAC, and Electrical Trades are working hard at the Wood Heights Fire Station as they add an annex. The Fire Station has been a “classroom” of hands-on experience and students are getting valuable “on-the-job” experience. Health Science classes are in the field completing their clinical work, and Fire and EMT continue their high speed training on site. Computer Support, Career Exploration, and Automotive classes are all on full throttle as they continue to do exciting activities and prepare for competitions at the state level. It’s a busy and productive year at the Career Center and we always welcome our parents to be involved. Call us anytime with your thoughts.

March 8 No School

March 11 No School

March 15 Attend-ance In-centive

March 15-22

SkillsUSA Popcorn Fundraiser

March 22 ESACC Col-lege & Career Fair

March 23 SkillsUSA Garage Sale

March 29 No School

April 1 No School

April 4-6 State SkillsUSA

May 1 CC Awards Ceremony

Mark Your Calendar!

The Excelsior Springs Area Career Center held their parent/teacher conferences for

the spring semester on Thursday, February 14, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. During

this time, parents/guardians were able to conference with their child’s career and

technical instructor as well as the English IV teacher. Parents received updates on

class content, grades, and

behavior in the classroom.

According to The Center for

Public Education, parent in-

volvement can make a differ-

ence in a child’s education.

So a big “thank you” to par-

ents for their support! If you

were unable to attend but

would like to speak with your

child’s teacher, please call

(816) 630-9240.

The Excelsior Springs Area Career Center and the Wood Heights Fire Department are working to-gether to construct a new addition to the fire station. This addition will house office space, class-rooms, and living quarters for firefighters. The fire department contacted the ESACC last winter with an idea of the classes at the Career Center working with the fire department to build the new fire station. It was decided that this would be an excellent learning opportunity for the stu-dents in the Building Trades, Electrical Trades, and HVAC classes. Construction started in Septem-ber and the project is well on its way. The collaborative effort has created a lot of interest in the community as well as with the news. Shawn McDowell with Fox 4 News of Kansas City did a news

report that aired on Janu-ary 28, 2013 during the evening news. Mr. McDow-ell interviewed students, staff, and Wood Heights Fire Chief Lee O’Dell, and captured some footage of students in action! The stu-dents were very excited to see their work highlighted on local news. ESACC staff and administration is very proud of the work the stu-dents are doing and hope that in years to come they can share not only the skills they have learned but also the memories made.

Partnership Highlighted on Local News

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Adult Education Instructor’s Wanted! Do you have a hobby or skill and would like

to share it with others? Earn extra cash by teaching an Adult/

Community Education class. Call 816-630-

9240, ext 1 for details.

What’s New for Adult Education Spring

2013? Country Gospel/

Inspirational/Songwriters Workshop

American Sign Language

Retirement Planning: ABC’s of Conservative

Investing

Cake Decorating

Pretty Polka Dot Pot

Dish Towel Bunny

Fun Patio Lights

Mock Interviews Held at ESACC Individuals from business and industry interviewed all ESACC seniors and those juniors interested in participating in mock interviews on January 31. The mock interviews were designed to give students an opportunity to prac-tice professionalism in a real-world setting. Individuals from business and industry were invited to take on the role of an interviewer in one of our eight trade areas. Students were given a job description, interview tips, and résumé writing assistance to prepare for the event. Students were interviewed by individuals from their trade area and evaluated on their performance. Interviewers provided valuable feedback to students highlighting areas of strengths and weaknesses. North Kansas City Hospital’s Peri-Operative Education Coordinator, Denice Morri-son (RN, MSN, CNOR, CASC) was an interviewer for a group of ESACC’s Health Services students. Mrs. Morrison reflected on the event stating that, “Students were well-prepared and I hope the experience provided them with a real-life situation they can use to improve their inter-viewing skills."

English IV instructor, Stacy Holtzclaw, and Career Ser-vices Coordinator, Liz Smith, organized the event with a goal to provide students a real-world experience. Liz Smith shared, “It was very exciting to have so many individuals from business and industry in our building working with our students. Every interviewer I spoke with commented on the quality of their top interview-ees and most said they had at least one candidate that they would hire if they had positions open. These types of comments are another validation of the great things that go on in this building.”

Above: Kearney Senior, Paul Vogel (Firefighter I & II stu-dent), interviewing with Chief Tribble from Excelsior Springs Fire Department. Left: Computer Support stu-dent Dallas Freeman, ES Senior, interviewed with Jennifer Rog-ers (formerly AIPC) and Jenny Cogburn (retired teacher and former school board member).

English IV Students Finalize Research Projects!

Firefighter I & II

Students in English IV are wrapping up their re-search project. Each student followed the re-search process to prove a thesis statement re-garding a topic in their career and technical area. They are beginning to present these arguments in class and it’s exciting to see what they have learned about their topics! Presentation tips were discussed and students will earn both a research grade and a presentation grade for this assess-ment.

Students also have a digital portfolio (CAPSTONE Project) that will be due on April 8 for all classes. This digital portfolio contains their qualifica-tions, certifications, resume, artifacts and photographs to help them during a job or college interview.

High school means classes, friends,

sports and…increased exposure to the risks of alco-

hol. 1 out of every 5 high school students in our area reports drinking alcohol in

the last 30 days and nearly half will be offered other dan-

gerous drugs by the time they leave high

school. Since you can’t be everywhere with your teen, take time to talk to them about the dangers of underage drink-ing and set clear rules against use before age 21. By communicating

these rules and lim-iting access to alco-hol, you help pro-tect your family

from consequences that could affect

you and your teens forever. Want more information? Paren-tupkc.com is packed

full of resources, tools, and infor-mation that will

help guide this con-versation.

Fire students have been learning about different types of wa-ter supply, fire hose, fire streams, and fire tactics. They learned how the water gets from the river to the fire hydrant, or how we use water from our trucks. We have many different types of fire hose and they are used for different functions, also how to clean, store and load fire hose. They have learned about the different types of nozzles we use and what kind of fires to use them on. They have learned how to fire house, car, dumpster, grass, and burning fuel fires along with oth-ers. They are always busy doing something to get

Automotive Technology What controls a comfortable ride and stable steering in our vehi-cles? Second semester holds the study of suspension system com-ponents, tires, and alignment. Along with the study of the suspen-sion system students will continue the study of electronics because with the advancement of technology, the steering and suspension system is controlled by the computer. Modern vehicles have elec-tric steering and magnetic ride control along with lane change con-trol.

Automotive Technology celebrated 12 students that medaled at the district contest for SkillsUSA on February 15, 2013. These stu-dents worked hard and it paid off with gold, silver, and bronze medals. Students will travel to Linn, Mo for SkillsUSA state contest

in April. Other student recognitions include Dakota McGinley, Polo Senior, January student of the month and Cory Bethards, Lawson Senior, February student of the month.

The end of the year is fast approaching and this means students will be working on end of year testing. Students will be taking an ASE type test for their third party assessment. At the end of the year, Mr. Thomas will be retiring, sharing that, “After 13 years of teaching it is time to re-tire. I will miss the students immensely, seeing them grow and learn brings a great joy to my life. I hope to help with our student organizations and help where I can to support the students in their future plans.”

ESACC students are starting their Nursing clinicals and are off to a great start. The students began their clinical rotation on February 12th. Mrs. Ballinger’s job is to visit the different sites to monitor students while they experience hands-on training in a medical environment. This year, students are working with Liberty Terrace Care Center, Excelsior Springs Convalescent Center, Cameron VA and Excelsior Springs Reha-bilitation Center. Students are required to complete 100 hours of on-

the-job training and complete specific competencies during this rotation.

Once students complete clinicals on April 19th, they will have met the requirements needed to take the certified nurse assistant state certification test for Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services. After students pass the certification process they are placed on the Missouri State Registry and are Certified Nurse Assis-tants. Students can then start working as a CNA. Mrs. Ballinger shared, “It brings me great joy to watch the students develop their skills they will use to fulfill their career path of patient care.”

Health Services

With spring time just around the corner, the electrical trades program is charged up and ready to continue work on the Wood Heights Fire Station. Using project blueprints, this year’s seniors are heading up work groups that are re-sponsible for branch circuits located throughout the fire sta-tion. This gives seniors leadership responsibilities and group accountability throughout the project. Lighting, recepta-cles, emergency lighting, outdoor lighting, HVAC power and low voltage wiring such as data and cable wiring are being installed according to blueprint specifications. A short video was featured on Fox 4 news a few weeks ago highlighting all of the trades working on the fire station. Senior Austin Stanfield was

interviewed on sight and gave a statement that was professional and insight-ful for the career center and the Electrical Trades class.

This time of the year is also a very busy time with SkillsUSA contests and prac-tices. With district competition held February 15th, the Electrical Trades class came away with a class record of 18 medals. The majority of the class quali-fied for SkillsUSA state competition at Linn State Technical College April 4-6th.

The Electrical Trades class has four seniors out on internship this semester. David Sollazzo, Chris Martin, Bert Hale, and Lance Shouse are working for Morse Electric and Mike Hagen Electric. This is an awesome opportunity to work in the electrical field, learn more about the trade while getting paid and gaining experience for apprenticeship opportunities. These seniors come into the classroom one day a week, and share their experiences with the class. This enhances the experi-ence and keeps the class informed of what is happening out in the real world. Students of the Month: January – Colt Nutter, Lawson Junior February – Stephen Hallmark, Excelsior Senior

Watts Up ~ Electrical Trades

SkillsUSA members at Excelsior Springs Area Career Center are cele-brating district contest results in conjunction with National Career and Technical Education Month. ESACC students competed against other career and technical schools on Friday, February 11th and 15th at the Hillyard Technical Center in St. Joseph, MO.

ESACC SkillsUSA members earned 80 medals in various competitive events during SkillsUSA Northwest Missouri District contests. Many of the students will be advancing to state competition held in April at Linn State College in Linn, MO. District-level results were announced at the February 15th awards ceremony with the first through third place winners. SkillsUSA is a national organization serving high school and college students and professional members enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations.

SkillsUSA has more than 305,000 members annually, organized into 13,000 chapters and 54 state and territorial associations (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands). SkillsUSA pre-pares Ameri-ca’s high per-f o r m a n c e workers. It provides qual-ity education experiences for students in leadership, t e a m w o r k , c i t i z e n s h i p and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. It emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, life-long education and pride in the dignity of work. SkillsUSA also promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activi-ties.

SkillsUSA Members

Participate at District Contest

Contest Student Name & Sending School

Action Skills Blake Bates- Polo

Computer Maintenance Technology

Adam Meyer-Orrick

Customer Service Shelby Flinn-Lathrop

Electrical Construction Wiring

David Sollazzo-Liberty

Employment Application Process

Blake Luckow-Liberty

Health Occupation Profes-sional Portfolio

Caitlin Harris-Liberty

Industrial Motor Control Logan Stump-Polo

Industrial Motor Control Technology Information

Tristan Burton-Lawson

Job Skill Demonstration O George Castillo-Liberty

Nurse Assisting Caitlin Harris-Liberty

Professional Develop-ment Technology Infor-mation

Tristan Burton-Lawson


Heather Creason-Liberty North


Samantha Mandl-Lawson

Related Technical Math Dallas Freeman-Excelsior Springs

Residential Wiring Tech-nical Information

Phillip Ruark-Liberty

Technical Computer Ap-plications

Eric Shelley-Kearney

Telecommunications Ca-bling

Tyler Gray-Liberty North

Web Design Johnny Womack-Lathrop

Congratulations to all SkillsUSA members!

ESACC SkillsUSA earned

80 medals at District Contest!

District SkillsUSA 1st Place Winners

Mackenzie Sinclair, Madison Thomas, Shelby Patterson

FBLA Members Compete

at District Level

Members of the Excelsior Springs Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Chapter recently attended the 2013 District IV FBLA Leadership Conference held on February 8th in Liberty, Missouri. Students representing the Excelsior Springs FBLA in the district competitive leadership online tests prior to the February 8th event in-clude: YuChen Peng in Economics and Personal Finance; Jordan Humphrey in Business Calculations; and Madison Thomas in Cyber Security. Competing in role-play and presentations at the conference were Madison Thomas in Help Desk and Client Services; Mackenzie Sinclair in Job Interview and Emerging Business Issues; and Shelby Patterson in Emerging Business Issues. Local chapter adviser, Teresa Berry, accompanied the students to the conference. The following students were recognized at the awards presentation:

YuChen Peng – 3rd Place in Economics, 5th Place in Personal Finance Madison Thomas – 3rd Place in Help Desk

FBLA is a career and technical student organization for all high school students participating in busi-

ness programs.

District Skil lsUSA 2nd Place Winners

Contest Student Name & Send-ing School

Action Skills Thomas Brown-Liberty

Carpentry Scotty Frendle-Lawson

Computer Networking Technology Information

Skylar Reeves-Lathrop

Career Pathways Show-case-Transportation, Dis-tribution and Logistics

Dominick Booth-Liberty, Dakota McGinley-Polo, and Houston Stone-Polo

Customer Service Quinn Kielty-Liberty

Electrical Construction Wiring

Stephen Hallmark-Excelsior Springs

Health Occupation Pro-fessional Portfolio

Mackenzie Hauck-Excelsior Springs

Heating, Ventilation, Air Condition & Refrigera-tion Technology Infor-mation

Alex Holtzclaw-Lathrop

Industrial Motor Control Tristan Burton-Lawson


Logan Stump-Polo

Medical Math Sierra Thompson-Excelsior Springs

Medical Terminology Caitlin Harris-Liberty

Nurse Assisting Heather Creason-Liberty North

Opening and Closing Team

Heather Creason-Liberty North, Shelby Flinn-Lathrop, Bert Hale-Lawson, Ashley King-Excelsior Springs, Sa-mantha Mandl-Lawson, Destiny Pate-Excelsior Springs, Samantha Starr-Excelsior Springs



Promotional Bulletin Board

Josh Paxton-Lathrop, Drayven Sumpter-Lathrop




Isaac Jones-Excelsior Springs

Telecommunications Cabling

Dallas Freeman-Excelsior Springs

Web Design Skylar Reeves-Lathrop, Tyler Feil-Polo

District SkillsUSA 3rd Place Winners

Contest Student Name & Sending School

Automotive Service Tech-nology

Alex Dillenbeck-Kearney

Computer Maintenance Technology

James McCaulley-Orrick

Career Pathways Showcase-Health Sciences

Gabrielle Gonzales-Liberty North, Micayla Wohletz-Kearney, Ashley Downing-Liberty

Career Pathways Showcase-Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

John Dale-Kearney, Jacob Petree-Kearney, Jake Woods-Kearney

Electrical Construction Wir-ing

Austin Stanfield-Excelsior Springs

Heating, Ventilation, Air Condition & Refrigeration Technology Information

Cody Anderson-Lawson

Industrial Motor Control Logan Stump-Polo

Industrial Motor Control Tristan Burton-Lawson

Industrial Motor Control Greg Cain-Excelsior Springs


Greg Cain-Excelsior Springs

Job Interview Jacob Bellis-Kearney

Job Skill Demonstration A Caitlin Harris-Liberty

Nurse Assisting Samantha Mandl-Lawson

Prepared Speech Autumn Scott-Excelsior Springs

Professional Development Technology Information

Stephen Hallmark-Excelsior Springs

Professional Development Technology Information

Shelby Flinn-Lathrop

Quiz Bowl

Cody Anderson, Tyler Feil, Alex Holtzclaw, Jared Raf-fel, Skyler Reeves, Johnny Womack-Lathrop, Nathan Suddarth-Lawson

Related Technical Math Jared Raffel-Excelsior Springs

Residential Wiring Technical Information

Austin Stanfield-Excelsior Springs

Technical Spelling Dallas Freeman-Excelsior Springs

Telecommunications Cabling Eric Shelley-Kearney

Web Design

Austin McGehee-Excelsior Springs, Logan Vermillion-Excelsior Springs

Keeping it Cool ~ HVAC Happenings HVAC students have been busy learning new concepts about the refrigeration cycle, studying for the EPA 608 exam, and installing the heating and cooling sys-tems at the Wood Heights Fire Station. In order to understand how a heat pump works, students must first have a good understanding of the refrigeration cycle. Students spent the first part of January studying how the refrigeration cycle works and how to correctly check the charge on an air conditioner. Once stu-dents mastered these concepts, they learned how the cycle is reversed in order to heat a house as opposed to cooling it. Alongside the focus on refrigeration, students have also been preparing for the EPA 608 exam. Section 608 of the Federal Clean Air Act requires that persons who work with regulated refrigerants be certified. This certification exam veri-

fies that the person has read and understands the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act. Students will have the opportunity to get their certification during the month of March. Students have started installing ductwork for the new Wood Heights Fire Department. Once the ductwork is installed and insulated, students will begin installing the heat pump systems that will heat and cool the building. During this process, students will learn about furnace combus-tion air exhaust, high and low voltage wiring, building fresh air intake systems, and wireless thermostats controlled over the internet. The addition at the Wood Heights Fire Station has been an excellent envi-ronment for commercial HVAC learning opportunities.

The students in Career Exploration have been working in the HVAC program area. They have been learning how to cut, flare, swage, and telescope copper tubing and also to properly solder tubing. The students are using an oxy-acetylene torch to do their soldering. We have also dis-

cussed the heating and cooling processes used in different systems.

Students are also working on a team project for either a heating or cooling unit model. The teams came up with ideas to make a unit and produced sketches/drawings with measurements to make their project. Students also had to create a list of what they were going to use to make their model which included sizes and material of the parts. They are currently making their projects and will give presentations soon. Students will be assessed on how well they use their time and how well the team works together. These types of projects will help students prepare for a program next year and also improve skills involving working with others and problem solving.

Career Exploration

EMT students have been learning about medical emergen-cies. They have learned about heart attacks, seizures, diabetic problems, respiratory problems, neurologic, gastrointestinal, he-matologic emergencies, over doses, psychiatric and gynecologic emergencies. With all of the above problems they must be able to recognize the condition, develop a treatment plan and treat the patient. Please make your student study for the required test, it is another very hard test.

EMT-Basic

Building Trades Building Trades students are hard at work framing the expansion of the Wood Heights Fire Station. Students are currently working on framing interior partition walls that will divide the space up into offices, classroom, restrooms, and living quarters for fire fighters. The de-sign of the addition requires students to measure and cut each stud individually. This has given students excellent practice at laying out framing members, using tape measures to measure correctly, and using the circular saw to make accurate cuts. Students are doing an

excellent job and should be very proud of the work they are doing.

Scotty Frendle competed in District SkillsUSA Car-pentry and took 2nd place. Scotty will compete at state contest in April. Congratulations, Scotty! Congratulations is also deserved for Trevor Pen-nington and Kyle Younger. Trevor was the stu-dent of the month for December and Kyle for January.

Computer Support The Computer Support class has been disseminating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses commonly used on all networked devices. In addition, they have been getting an idea of just how IP addresses are used to send and receive messages, or packets, across a network and that routers are responsible for traffic at that level. Learning that IP address consists of two components, the network and the host, will lead to further calculations of which entire ranges of IP addresses are determined for networks. Soon, we will be in the most math-intensive part of the class curriculum. When not working on networking curriculum, students have been preparing for a variety of SkillsUSA competitions. There are still a few local competitions to work through to determine who will be allowed to advance to State in those that are typically straight-to-state. For those that are not straight-to-state, the SkillsUSA Missouri Northwest District Championships took place on Monday, Feb. 11 and Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 at Hillyard Technical Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. The two Computer Support classes combined have a total of 28 students. Of those, 14 placed in the top three earning a total of 23 medals in 12 different events. All first and second place finishers qualify for State. A few third place finishers qualify as well. Out of the 14 medalists, 11 qualify for State in 11 different com-petitions. What stood out the most in my mind were the four students who finished first, third, fourth, and fifth in Computer Maintenance Technology out of a field of about 15-20 competitors! They really are learning something! Congratula-tions to all!

614 Tiger Drive

Excelsior Springs, MO 64024

Enrollment is now open for the Spring 2013 Adult Education Classes Brochures are available at the Excelsior Springs, Kearney, Liberty, Lawson and Richmond libraries, Excelsior Springs Chamber of Commerce or you can call or stop by the Adult Education office at the Excelsior Springs Area Career Center to pick up a copy. Spring classes run from February to May. Course enrollment just got easier!

Mail in your enrollment form: Fill out the enrollment form on the back of the brochure and mail it along with the enroll-ment fee to: Excelsior Springs Area Career Center, 614 Tiger Drive, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024.

Use the online enrollment form found on the Adult Education website at www.excelsiorspringsadulted.weebly.com and mail in your application fee.

Changes in the Hunter Education Class registration process To register go to http://mdc.mo.gov. In the middle of MDC home page click, in the Hunting Questions section, click on “When are hunter education classes?” Scroll down the “Active Programs” page to the “Hunter Education Classroom Course” section and click on “Upcoming Events”. Go to March 19 – 21, 2013 date on the calendar and fill out the registration information to register for the class. There is a $5.00 facility fee payable the first night of class. Please note that ALL registrations must be done through Mis-souri Department of Conservation. Sorry, no registrations can be done through the Adult Education Office.

What’s New in Adult Education

Upcoming SkillsUSA Activities SkillsUSA members will be selling popcorn March 15-22 and hosting a garage sale on March 23 to help pay for expenses associ-ated with more than 50 students qualifying to compete at Misssouri SkillsUSA contest on April 4-6. Your support or contribu-tions will be appreciated. SkillsUSA members will be selling BobKorn popcorn March 15-22. Kettle Corn and other flavors will be available for purchase for $6 per bag. BobKorn is a local Excelsior Springs business supporting ESACC students. A garage sale, pancake breakfast, and other activities are being scheduled for March 23 at the Excelsior Springs Area Career Center. Students are seeking items to be sold during the garage sale. If you have items you would like to donate or would like to make a monetary contribution, please contact Teresa Berry at 816.630.9240 or [email protected]. Please mark your calendar and join us for a bargain shopping day and pancake breakfast.

http://www.excelsiorspringsadulted.weebly.com

http://mdc.mo.gov

Documents

ESACC Newsletter