This month the Automotive Technologies class had two special guest speakers visit. Ronnie and Kingster from the TV show Garage Squad came to KEC to spend the class periods with KEC students. Garage Squad is aired on the Motor Trend channel, is mostly filmed in the Chicago area, and features a team of techs renewing or restoring project cars. KEC's own Bill Rogers was on an episode which featured the restoration of a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. That car is currently in the Auto shop.
KEC is thankful to have people like Ronnie and Kingster, who are willing to talk to the KEC classes and even help with resourcing parts and services for the class projects. Thank you to Bill Rogers for arranging this visit.
Ronnie and Kingster are talking to the students about how they were able to restore different areas of the Charger.
Mr. Rogers (left), Ronnie (middle) and Kingster (right) discussing issues with the transmission that is going into the Auto project car, which is a 1980 Chevy Monza dragster. Ronnie was explaining to the students how automatic transmissions function, and how they have evolved over the years to become more efficient.
Each class session started with Ronnie and Kingster talking with the students about career opportunities, within the Automotive field, and how they personally got their start.
Congratulations to the
CTE Student of the Month
Winners for September!
The September Sports Medicine Student of the Month is Victoria Tuszynski. She is a senior at DeKalb High School and has been a constant force in the classroom this fall. Since she is interested in pursuing Athletic Training as a career, Victoria has taken the time to contact me in the fall and switch sessions so she can be in-person to learn her hands-on skills. She has been engaged both in
person and remote.
The September Criminal Justice Student of the Month is Mary Wall. She is a Senior at Rochelle Township High School and has been a quiet force in the class. She is balancing two CTE classes and has still been able to maintain the highest standard of work.
The September Early Childhood Education class is ‘spotlighting’ 2 second year students, both Seniors from Sycamore High School. Mya Gauger & Maritza Gomez have both started out the year very strong. They have been working remotely, have excellent attendance, and have also completed all assignments! Mya and Maritza are serving as great resources and role models for our first year students, sharing their experiences from last year. We are very fortunate to have both of them with us again this year! Congratulations Mya!
The September Early Childhood Education class is ‘spotlighting’ 2 second year students, both Seniors from Sycamore High School. Mya Gauger & Maritza Gomez have both started out the year very strong. They have been working remotely, have excellent attendance, and have also completed all assignments! Mya and Maritza are serving as great resources and role models for our first year students, sharing their experiences from last year. We are very fortunate to have both of them with us again this year! Congratulations Maritza!
The September CIS Student of the Month is Braeden Peska. He is a Junior at Rochelle Township High School. Braeden has shown initiative this semester in keeping up with class material, online class discussions, assignments and contributing with our fall class activity.
The September Medical Terminology Student of the Month is Brooke Pugh. She is a Senior at Genoa - Kingston High School and would like to pursue a degree in Nursing. Overall, Brook has been actively engaged in her remote learning. She has taken the time to join us every day remotely and has finished most of her work long before due dates. She has done an outstanding job learning from home.
The September CNA Student of the Month is Brooklynn Reams because of her constant hard work. She is a Junior at DeKalb High School and is a student who is invested in her classwork. Brooklynn works well with all of her classmates and her optimistic viewpoint is contagious which she shows easily. Congratulations Brooklynn!
The September Esthetics Student of the Month is Kellie Hohlfeld. She is a Senior at Sycamore High School and the first to turn in assignments every week, frequently working ahead. Kellie is great to have in class!
The September Culinary Arts Student of the Month is Britney Calin
(not pictured). She is a Senior at DeKalb High School. Britney not only works hard on her own work, but she has also reached out to first year students to answer questions and mentor them as they get used to their new program.
KEC is partnering with The Legacy Academy in Sycamore to offer high school juniors and seniors a barbering class.
The Welding classes have been working on some projects in between welding assignments and practice. The two projects pictured are a plasma cutting table and a cooling tank. The cooling basket (pictured) and tank is where students can put their welding pieces - first the basket, and then the water tank - to cool the pieces quickly. This allows the student and Mr. Nelson to assess the quality of the weld.
The plasma cutting table is where sheet metal is placed to be cut with a plasma torch, or CNC plasma cutter, to make preprogrammed metal cutouts. This table is able to have the support bars changed easily, as the support bars wear out eventually from the cutting process.
Thank you Mr. Nelson for helping students create usable items.
