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Innovation at a national levelKansasville fire prop vent deck provides for hands-on trainingGateway hosts robotics event for third yearIctec wins RAMAC awardMike Vernezze honored with international awardGateway marketing, accounting and design students win awardsGateway hosts expanded community-wide Celebrate Earth Day eventGateway begins drilling work for geothermal energy unitNew torque-wind program partners with Snap-onIndustrial mechanical technician lab opensLaw enforcement academy graduates 18More than 1,000 graduate with associate, technical diplomasInternational Festival in BurlingtonSumoBot robotics competition held at GatewayFiber optics infrastructure to boost educational opportunities

Innovation at a national levelIt’s a wonderful time of year -- we’re sharing theexcitement of our recent graduates who are looking towarda better future, and we are equally motivated by the newopportunities that lay ahead for incoming students thissummer and fall.

We are particularly excited by the introduction of innovativetraining programs in emerging industries. These programsdemonstrate employment potential for our students andwill benefit area employers who are looking to grow theirbusiness in new ways. A Gateway-trained employee willhelp them meet their business goals.

A few programs are already moving past the visioningstage to reality. This week we will hold an open house forour Industrial Mechanical Technician Lab on our RacineCampus. While the degree program is slated to begin infall, a similar program, run according to our boot campformat is currently in progress.

The lab space is also slated to be used for a programassociated with the wind power generation industry. We’vepartnered with Snap-on Incorporated to help create anational torque certification program designed to meet theneed of the growing global wind power industry.

Geothermal energy training is another new Gatewayinitiative that began this spring. Initially, students are beingtrained to drill holes for installing a geoexchange system –the only training of this type in the nation. (note: link tostory below)

And it won’t end there. We will continue incorporatinginnovative programs to our curriculum – some with nationalimportance – to create opportunities that benefit ourstudents, industry partners, and Gateway communities.

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Bryan AlbrechtPresident, Gateway Technical College

Kansasville fire prop vent deckprovides for hands-on trainingGateway Fire Science students now have the opportunityfor hands-on training in roof ventilation during a fire. Workon two roof vent props – one each in at the Kansasville andCaledonia fire departments – was recently completed byGateway staff with the help of several community partners.

The construction culminated seven months of preparationby Gateway and its partners who stepped forward to makethe training structures possible. The Wisconsin TechnicalCollege System requires use of these structures as part ofthe certification training and testing process in roofventilation procedures.

“ Each district seeking to perform this certification isrequired to have one of these roof vent props,” said JohnDahms, instructor/coordinator of Gateway’s Fire ProtectionTechnician program. “This is an important procedure forstudents to master.”

Partners in building the structures include ScherrerConstruction Co. Inc., Wanasek Corporation, KansasvilleFire Department, Caledonia Fire Department, Reineman’sTrue Value Hardware, Clinton’s Home Building Center, andthe Burlington High School Construction Career Academy.

(For more information on the careers offered by Gateway,www.gtc.edu/careers)

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Students and community partners help workon a roof vent prop training deck.

For more information, dahmsj@gtc.edu

Gateway hosts robotics eventfor third yearGateway hosted the Third Annual Wisconsin TechnicalCollege System robotics competition at the college's Centerfor Advanced Technology and Innovation, an event pittingthe autonomous robots of more than 100 students fromnine Wisconsin Technical College System teams againsteach other.

Robots were given two attempts at completing the task andthe winner was the team with the fastest time. A Gatewayteam took second in the timed task event, while a teamfrom Northwest Technical College took first.

This is the third year Gateway has hosted the event. Teamscompeted were from: Gateway Technical College;Waukesha County Technical College; College; Northwest

Technical college students compete at astatewide robotics competition hosted at

Gateway.For more information, hoppep@gtc.edu

Technical College; and Southwest Technical College.

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Ictec wins RAMACawardIctect, Inc., a business incubator tenant at Gateway’sCenter for Advanced Technology and Innovation, waspresented with the Apollo Award by the Racine CountyWorkforce Development Board at the Racine AreaManufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC) Annual AwardsDinner.

The Apollo Award recognizes the accomplishments of abusiness owner or entrepreneurial team who started a newand innovative business in Racine County.

Pradeep Jain, owner and president of ictect, Inc.,introduced a new patent, product and concept related tointelligent content architectures, and received contractsfrom the US Air Force, Nelnet Peterson’s, and the CityUniversity of New York within its first year. Ictect willlicense its intellectual property to the Air Force Departmentof Publishing Office for use in streamlining the branch’sWeb document publishing.

In a difficult economic situation, ictect has delivered costsavings in the order of 50 percent by turning “outsourced”processes into “in-sourced,” and by empowering knowledgeworkers in customer organizations.

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For more information, fellnert@gtc.edu

Mike Vernezze honoredwith international awardGateway Technical College marketing instructor MikeVernezze was the recipient of DECA/Delta Epsilon Chi’s2009 Outstanding Service Award at the 48th Annual DeltaEpsilon Chi International Career Development Conferenceheld in Anaheim, Calif.

The award “recognizes marketing personnel who havemade outstanding contributions to further the mission ofDECA Inc. at the international level” according toDECA/Delta Epsilon Chi. Delta Epsilon Chi is the collegiatedivision of DECA, and serves its diverse internationalmembership as a professional organization, providingleadership and career-oriented opportunities to develop andenhance tomorrow’s leaders.

Mike Vernezze

“When accepting the award, I thought of all the greatstudents and fellow advisors that I have had the privilegeto advise and serve with over the last 31 years and how allthe time, work, and effort as an adviser has been arewarding experience in my educational career,” saidVernezze.

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Gateway marketing, accountingand design students win awardsGateway Technical College students Laura Funk and KeliMielke took home first-place honors in the AdvertisingCampaign category at the 48th Annual Delta Epsilon Chi’sInternational Career Development Conference in Anaheim,Calif.

Funk (Pleasant Prairie) and Mielke (Kenosha) were joinedby 12 other Gateway marketing, design and accountingstudents who took home honors at the event, competingagainst 1,300 two-year and four-year college anduniversity students.

Students gained hands-on career skills in the competitionthrough interviews, tests, role-play scenarios, onlinesimulations and written project reports. Businessprofessionals judged the competitions, giving students aneven more real-life look at the skills needed for their futurecareer.

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Laura Funk and Keli Mielke took homefirst-place honors at the 48th Annual Delta

Epsilon Chi’s International CareerDevelopment Conference.

For more information, contact Mike Vernezzeat (262) 564-2744, vernezzem@gtc.edu, or

Barbara Micheln at (262) 564- 2406,michelnb@gtc.edu

Gateway hosts expandedcommunity-wideCelebrate Earth Day eventGateway Technical College helped host another successfulCelebrate Earth Day, an event designed to increaseenvironmental awareness and help participants becomebetter stewards of the environment.

Gateway Technical College, along with Keep KenoshaBeautiful, Green Kenosha, Snap-on Incorporated and manyother area organizations concerned with the environmentpartnered in the environment event held on Gateway’sKenosha Campus.

The event expanded this year to include even moreopportunities for the community to learn about

There were many hands-on activities foradults and children at Celebrate Earth Day

hosted by Gatewaywww.gtc.edu/earthday

environmental issues, drop off items for recycling, pick upfree compost and saplings and enjoy even moreworkshops, activities, plant sales and displays.

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Gateway begins drillingwork for geothermal energy unitGateway students are drilling five, 3-inch, 100-foot deepholes on the Kenosha Campus as a way to highlight its drilltraining program – the only one of its kind in the nation.

President Bryan Albrecht kicked off the drilling work duringa ceremony at Celebrate Earth Day next to the HorticultureBuilding greenhouse.

Gateway will install a 60,000 BTU direct exchange heatpump system which will be hooked up to another earth-friendly heating system inside the building. Thegeoexchange system will heat units underneath greenhouseseedling beds to help the plants germinate and grow moreefficiently – as well as reducing energy costs to thatbuilding by 50 percent to 60 percent.

Gateway geothermal drilling training allows for copper to beused for geoexchange systems in Wisconsin. Using coppertubing underground means homes even in cities and urbanareas with smaller lot sizes in Wisconsin will still haveenough space to fully install and use the system.

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Gateway President Bryan Albrecht andinstructor Tom Niesen begin to drill the first

hole on the Kenosha Campus to demonstratethe college’s new geothermal program.

For more information, call Tom Niesen at(262) 564-2610

New torque-wind programpartners with Snap-onSnap-on Incorporated, in partnership with GatewayTechnical College, has created a national torquecertification program designed to meet the needs of thegrowing global wind power generation industry.

This program in torque technology will provide the studentwith hands-on learning of torque techniques, boltingapplications, and tool set-up and selection concepts withintoday’s wind industry. Torque is the turning motion used totighten or secure a fastener to achieve proper clampingforce.

Gateway program administrators continue to ensure thatthe skills taught through the program are thorough andmeet the needs of industry. The program will offerhands-on training that will guide the student from learning

For more information, hobbsl@gtc.edu

torque fundamentals and hand tool applications toadvanced technology equipment to training on heavy-dutypneumatic and hydraulic equipment needed in today’s windindustry.

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Industrial mechanicaltechnician lab opensGateway held an open house for its remodeled space onthe Racine Campus will help provide workers with the skillsto land jobs in a soft economy – and for companies toobtain workers to keep their manufacturing lean andproductive.

Gateway held the open house for its new IndustrialMechanical Technician Lab on the Racine Campus. The labcontains new equipment including lathes, machine tools,hydraulic trainers, industrial trainers and laser alignmenttrainers.

Gateway is holding its first Machine Repair Boot Camp inthe space this spring and early summer, and the Gatewayprogram will begin there in Fall 2009.

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For more information, sherwood@gtc.edu

Law enforcementacademy graduates 18A total of 18 graduated from the Gateway’s LawEnforcement Academy at a ceremony on the KenoshaCampus.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson wasthe keynote speaker for the graduation ceremony. Therecruit speech was given by class president Philip Paulson.

Ryan Sieker with the Kenosha Police Department washonored with the Highest Academic Average award; PhilipPaulson with the Mt. Pleasant Police Department earned theSecond Highest Academic Average; Daniel Gerlitz with theTown of Linn Police Department received the Top GunAward.

Other class officers included class treasurer, Nichole Holst;class secretary, Andrew Leiting; and class sergeant-at-arms, Andrew Ciskowski.

Graduates were employed by a number of local lawenforcement agencies, including the Kenosha Police

For more information, whiten@gtc.edu

Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, RacineCounty Sheriff’s Department, Burlington Police Department,Mt. Pleasant Police Department, Town of Linn PoliceDepartment and the Silver Lake Police Department.

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More than 1,000 graduatewith associate, technical diplomasMore than 1,000 students were recognized as graduates atGateway’s Associate and Technical Diploma Class of 2009Commencement on May 18. Twin Disc Incorporatedchairman and chief executive officer Michael E. Batten wasthe keynote speaker.

A total of 434 of the 1,034 candidates participated in thecommencement exercises. The ceremony honoredgraduates from December 2008, and May and August2009.

Gateway also held a graduation ceremony for the college’sadult High School, which recognized 265 candidates forgraduation. Of that number, 87 graduated in December2008. Of that number, 67 attended the graduationceremony. The diplomas are conferred by the graduate’ssecondary school district.

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Michael Batten speaks at the GatewayTechnical College graduation.

www.gtc.edu

International Festival in BurlingtonGateway Technical College International Club membersteamed up with the Burlington Area School District topresent World Festival, an event featuring internationalfood, storytelling, dancing, singing and much more.

The event, held in the Burlington High School courtyardand commons area, featured international cultures nativeto area residents. Gateway students -- as well as others --performed songs, stories and dances from their nativecountries. Performances included a Flamenco dancer,Scottish dancers, a Taiwanese instrumentalist, an Africanmusical group, Burmese singers and storytellers, a Mariachiband, a Korean martial arts group, a juggling club and aNative American group.

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People attending the World Festival were ableto learn how to write their name in Chinese.For more information, saundersk@gtc.edu

SumoBot robotics competitionheld at GatewayGateway Technical College hosted a robotics competitionfor middle school and high school students from schoolswithin the Gateway district—Kenosha, Racine and Walworthcounties.

More than 100 high-school and middle-school studentssquared off with their self-made, remote-control robots inthe Sixth Annual SumoBot competition held at Gateway’sCenter for Advanced Technology and Innovation.

Students built the robots and then controlled them byremote-control equipment during the competition. Thereare four competition categories, a non-destructive wrestlingcompetition, a timed task event, a slalom-like timed run,and an oral and written presentation.

A joint team from Walden and Prairie high schools, RacineCounty, won the competition.

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Students compete at the SumoBotcompetition hosted by Gateway recently.For more information, hoppep@gtc.edu

Fiber optics infrastructure to boosteducational opportunitiesGateway Technical College is a member of a consortiumwhich has inked a deal to create a fiber opticcommunication infrastructure that will increase educationalopportunities for students as well as help taxpayers and theagencies which serve them.

In addition to Gateway, members of the Kenosha FiberConsortium include Kenosha Unified School District andKenosha County. The primary goals of the consortiuminclude deploying a cost-effective fiber optic network whichmeets the growing need for high-speed connectivity foreducation, public safety and economic development. It willprovide for more than 70 miles of fiber going as far west inKenosha County as Highway 45.

The project will allow Gateway to consider instructionalinnovations previously unavailable and will allow the collegeto offer additional media-rich options for students toconnect with the courses they need. Examples todayinclude Internet-based applications and streaming video,but this increased broadband capacity will enable neweducational uses in the future for academic technology yetto be developed.

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For more information, robshawj@gtc.edu

You may email questions or comments about CommunityConnection to Jayne Herring at herringj@gtc.edu or LeeColony at colonyl@gtc.edu

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