A $778,760 grant from the Don Wood Foundation is going to not only help purchase new equipment and upgrade facilities for Warsaw Area Career Center’s Welding and Advanced Manufacturing programs, it’s going to positively impact students’ futures.
“It’s a huge deal for our community. It’s a huge deal for our industry and our students,” said WACC Director Ben Barkey.
In his first year at the Career Center, Barkey said he had an early meeting with the Don Wood Foundation at Lakeview Middle School.
“Through that connection and several meetings and involvements, both the Foundation and the Career Center thought it would be good if I wrote a proposal for equipment and facilities upgrades,” Barkey said.
Some of that equipment is at Lakeview for the Advanced Manufacturing pathway and in the Welding pathway. Some of it is for the main campus for Industry 4.0 and Engineering.
“Because Lakeview is somewhat older, and the Advanced CNC mills and lathes require just a little bit more energy and air compression, there’s about a $100,000 of this grant for facility upgrades, at Lakeview, to allow us to use the equipment,” Barkey said. “Outside of that facility upgrade, everything else is equipment for students.”
Along with the mills and lathes, there will be an upgrade to the plasma table in the welding classrooms, multiple laser cutters and a CNC router.
Partnerships
Todd Speicher, president of Instrumental Machine and Development (IMD), said, “We at IMD are very excited to learn of the Don Wood Foundation Grant dollars being awarded to WACC. Knowing that these dollars will be used to introduce our local students to skilled trades and employment opportunities in our local orthopedic industry while also gaining exposure to up-to-date equipment and technology is a win for our company and our community. This is also a great opportunity for our vested orthopedic employers to support and assist in making our local students aware of the different employment opportunities and hopefully decide to continue to live, play and raise their families here in Kosciusko County and the surrounding area.”
Barkey said he believes the reason they were successful in getting the large grant is because “we already have several organizations invested in our manufacturing pathways already. For example, our dual credits partner is Vincennes University. They have already given $400,000 worth of equipment. So Don Wood likes to see that multiple people are investing. Also, the school has invested probably between $250,000 and $300,000 in manual lathes and mills upgrades and some facility upgrades.”
In that respect, Don Wood Foundation is coming on as a third partner to make it possible for WACC to have a state-of-the-art high school facility.
“One Advanced Manufacturing piece of equipment can easily cost over $100,000,” Barkey said. “It is very hard underneath the state-funding model for schools to offer this kind of education without community partnerships and foundation support.”
Another piece to the puzzle has been OrthoWorx.
In a provided news release, Bob Vitoux, CEO of OrthoWorx, said, “We are grateful for the funding the Don Wood Foundation continues to provide in so many areas that support the advancement of education and knowledge related to career paths in manufacturing. Their support aligns directly with OrthoWorx’s focus on equipping the next generation from a talent pipeline perspective and all the great work being done through our partnership with the WACC.”
Enrollment
Enrollment in the Advanced Manufacturing and Welding pathways has increased significantly, Barkey said. “And without Don Wood’s support, I’m not sure we would have enough equipment to adequately educate students.”
For example, this year they had 110 new students want to join the Welding and Manufacturing pathways. The previous year, it was about 70, and 70 in the first year of Barkey as director.
“So what that’s caused - my first year on the scene, we increased 70 students. We had to hire another welding teacher and that was Mr. Nate Howett. After the second year of 70 kids, it was just hard for us to teach all of those kids with three teachers so we had to split some of the kids into two different semesters to get it done. Our fourth year, we got over 100 new students, we hired a fourth teacher, an Advanced Manufacturing teacher. So all of this - hiring new teachers, the school district increasing its funding - but we still needed some equipment to make sure our students were getting the best return of their investment on their education,” Barkey explained.
Right now, there’s just a few students per machine. In Welding, there’s two kids per machine, which Barkey said is fantastic. In Advanced Manufacturing classrooms, he said they’ll have two kids per machine at a time while others are doing classroom work, and then they’ll switch off.
At the main campus, in the Industry 4.0 and Engineering classrooms, Barkey said they are upgrading their CNC router, which is way overdue. They’re also upgrading the amount of laser engraver tables. The CNC router and laser engraver tables typically are what one sees at the college level for the engineering, architecture and Industry 4.0 majors.
“We hear frequently from our students that are coming home from college that have gone through our program that they are so prepared for the next level, whether it is industry certification or undergrad classwork, that they’re at such an advantage over their classmates that it’s a huge benefit to their education. So this grant allows us to even take that experience for our students one step even further,” Barkey said.
One reason students are signing up for the pathways, he said, is because of the teachers.
“You’re now seeing we have four outstanding, dynamic teachers over at Lakeview. And we have three outstanding teachers at the high school,” he said. “(The students that) know that maybe college isn’t necessarily in their cards, they see the value of adding all of these experiences to their resume. So when they leave the high school, they can weld, they can machine, they can work with cobots. ... So our students are leaving with a wide array of experience and knowledge. So I think that also helps. We have outstanding teachers and kids are just in tuned to - one, two years away from entering the workforce, or going into engineering classes and they’re just wise to where they know that’s just going to set them apart.”
Matt Alexander, manufacturing teacher at WACC, says in the release, “Many thanks to The Don Wood Foundation for making this significant investment in the various Warsaw Area Career Center’s technology programs. These machines, combined with a robust curriculum, will prepare our students for the extensive employment opportunities in and around the Orthopedic Capital of the World.”
The release states that in response to rising enrollment, WACC expanded its team with the addition of the advanced manufacturing instructor. Through this initiative, students can earn industry-recognized certifications like the FANUC Certified Robot Operator – 1 and NIMS (National Institute for Metalworking Skills) certifications, boosting their employability and meeting local industry needs.
Dr. David Hoffert, superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools, said in the release, “Warsaw Community Schools is thankful for the strategic partnership and funding with the Don Wood Foundation. Our local industry is the lifeblood of our community. Through the Don Wood Foundation funding, WCS can provide industry-ready equipment designed to train and prepare the next generation of the local workforce.”
Foundations
The Warsaw School Board on Monday approved to use the funds from the grant, so the purchase of the new equipment could begin. Barkey estimated that the facilities upgrades at Lakeview and the purchase of some of the Advanced Manufacturing equipment could begin in the next few weeks. All the other pieces will follow suit.
“Our hope is, definitely by Christmas, to have the majority of those funds already used,” he said.
Once everything is ordered, delivered and in place, Barkey said it’s going to be amazing for the students.
“Currently, we have one laser engraver and we have a lot of students in the program. This should up us to four laser engravers. So the more pieces of equipment you have, the more times kids get to use it, the more kids use it, the better off and comfortable they feel and confident. And then when they go into the industry or higher education, they already know how to use that stuff. And some of them might already have certifications to use that,” he stated.
Even if enrollment in the pathways continues to grow, Barkey feels they’re in the perfect sweet spot as far as teachers go to manage all the Warsaw and Tippecanoe Valley students.
Brandon Kresca, principal of TVHS, highlighted the value the grant brings for students. “Many students at Tippecanoe Valley see a future in the welding and machining industry, thus receiving their education and training from our partners at the Warsaw Area Career Center,” he says in the release. “This investment from the Don Wood Foundation to improve the welding and machining equipment at WACC will be extremely valuable towards the goal of training the next generation of skilled laborers in our community. On behalf of Tippecanoe Valley High School, thank you so much to the Don Foundation for their investment in our talented students.”
Overall, Barkey said it’s organizations like OrthoWorx, Don Wood Foundation, The Dekko Foundation and the Kosciusko County Community Foundation that play a vital and important role in supporting educational initiatives moving in the future.
“So to be able to have partners like those is an amazing thing to have for our community,” he said. “Those foundations are just so important and vital to enhance our student learning, because without that, there’s no enhancement of student learning at all. We’re just trying to make do, and that’s not a great return of investment for our student education. We don’t want to limp along with our student learning. We want to enhance it, and those foundations and partners make all of this possible.”
The Don Wood Foundation is a private foundation, established in 2018 by Don Wood, founder of 80/20 Inc., that serves and supports innovators, leaders, collaborators and skilled workers with the potential to create and sustain opportunities in manufacturing. The Don Wood Foundation partners with nonprofits and educational institutions to provide enduring investment that supports the development of a diverse workforce through exposure, education, and training to create strong communities rooted in the advancement of leadership, manufacturing and entrepreneurship.