Next Gen Welds program at Waukon High School receives generous donation from Gemini to help promote local advanced manufacturing
Partnering to promote advanced manufacturing locally ... Members of the Next Gen Welds program under the guidance of Industrial Arts instructor Caleb Ferring at Waukon High School stand with staff members from Gemini, Inc. in Decorah to display the $10,000 donation check received from Gemini in an effort to help promote advanced manufacturing. Ferring says the donated funds will be used to help members of the Next Gen Welds program expand their education and prepare for and participate in SkillsUSA competitions to showcase skills they learn in their manufacturing classes. Submitted photo.
Touring the facility ... Members of the Next Gen Welds program at Waukon High School were able to tour the Gemini, Inc. facility in Decorah as part of a donation presentation Tuesday, May 2. Gemini donated $10,000 to the Next Gen Welds program to help promote advanced manufacturing in the local area. Submitted photo.
Tuesday, May 2, the Next Gen Welds program through Waukon High School received a donation of $10,000 from Gemini at its Decorah location in an effort to provide funding and learning opportunities for students, in the interest of promoting local advanced manufacturing. More than a dozen students under the guidance of Waukon High School Industrial Arts instructor Caleb Ferring made the trip to the Gemini manufacturing facility in Decorah to receive the donation and also tour the facility.
Ferring explained that the generous donation will allow his students to expand their education in advanced manufacturing and help them prepare for and participate in SkillsUSA competitions to showcase the skills they have learned through their manufacturing classes. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce through a nonprofit national education association that offers opportunities to better prepare for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations with a vision of producing the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success.
“SkillsUSA allows our students to compete in advanced manufacturing-based competitions such as CNC (Computer Numerical Control), engineering, welding and much more,” Ferring shared in a thank you letter to Gemini. “These events will offer a way for our students to showcase the skills they have learned through our manufacturing classes. We can show the community and local businesses what our programs are about, and what we can accomplish with hard work and driven students. Currently, our junior and senior students can take our college welding class and be SkillsUSA members starting next school year. This donation assisted in allowing our school to be able to make learning opportunities available through SkillsUSA registration fees, travel, lodging and equipment.”
The donation from Gemini will add yet another dimension to a growing area of the Career Technical Education (CTE) curriculum at Waukon High School. Ferring explained that all the industrial technology classes offered at Waukon High School teach fundamentals that correlate with the competitions provided by SkillsUSA.
In the Fall of 2021, an in-house workplace learning portion was added to the school’s welding program as an addition to the Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) Welding Career Pathway certificate currently offered at Waukon in partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) for college credit. Students work with local businesses and industry to complete several projects while operating the class as its own welding business model. Members of that class developed the company name “Next Gen Welds” and have been working on many projects with local businesses.
New state of Iowa requirements necessitate that each Career Technical Education area must have a school-sponsored Career Technical Student Organization (CTSO) to receive Federal Perkins funding. That new initiative fit best with the welding program within the Allamakee Community School District with a focus on high school students who are also taking advantage of the cooperative welding program offered through NICC.
The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) implementation plan for SkillsUSA, now made even more possible by receipt of the Gemini donation, outlines the school district’s strategy in regard to the program: “Our vision for ACSD is that we already have some great authentic learning opportunities in our welding program molded to meet the needs and standards of our local manufacturing businesses, and SkillsUSA will maintain those principles and supplement the learning experience by allowing the students to showcase their learning by participating in welding competitions.”
