SPRINGDALE -- Jobs in factories today require skills to design and repair robotics equipment now common in manufacturing, U.S. Sen. John Boozman said on a visit Friday to the new mechanical lab at Har-Ber High School.
Boozman and 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack, both Republicans from Rogers, toured parts of the construction and technology program.
Har-Ber High School
•2,265 students in grades 10-12
• Students divided into five houses linked to careers
• Construction and technology program of study is offered through house that focuses on architecture, construction, manufacturing and engineering.
• Other houses focus on the arts, agriculture and business, health science, and careers in education, government and hospitality
Source: Springdale School District
They joined students, educators, business leaders and community members to dedicate the 2,100-square-foot lab. The program provides sophomores, juniors and seniors the opportunity to learn skills employers need to run their factories, Boozman said.
"The key to these things working well are the public-private partnerships. As a result, the young people going through their system are going to be in a situation where they're going to have lots of opportunities in the future," Boozman said.
The lab is the result of partnerships between the school district and about a dozen companies in the region, Superintendent Jim Rollins said.
"When business leaders and educators sit at the table and dream about what can be, projects like this come forward," he said.
The new building and the equipment cost $174,600, with $20,000 coming from donations, School District spokesman Rick Schaeffer said.
Career and technical education programs receive federal money through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006.
"We're really working on trying to ensure 2017 federal funding," Boozman said, referring to the budget year that began in October. "There's a lot of support for Perkins programs among Democrats and Republicans."
The new mechanical lab was built to teach electrical and plumbing skills, said Stowe Hoffius, an instructor in the construction and technology program. Another lab for the construction and technology program houses high-tech machines used to build cabinets and other projects.
"It's all hands-on, the stuff they design," Hoffius said. "They have to think through the whole design process."
Students in the new lab have stations with walls where they can practice wiring light fixtures, switches and electrical boxes, said William Wheeler, a senior in the program. He wants to become an electrician and own a company.
"There's construction growth in the community," Wheeler said. "There's got to be someone to build these buildings and shops and schools. If you enjoy working with your hands, going into the construction field is definitely the way to go."
Clayton Kunkle, 18, plans to join Game Composites, an airplane manufacturing company in Bentonville, within a week or two after graduation, he said. Electrical work is part of the process of building a plane, he said. Kunkle is nearing the end of two years in the construction technology program.
"It's definitely prepared me for what I'm going to do," he said.
Kunkle doesn't have to worry about accumulating debt for college, and he'll have the ability to take classes to learn new skills, he said.
Students next school year will have the option of learning more about circuits and motors with equipment that has been ordered and will arrive this summer, said Bob Maples, a construction and technology teacher. He wants them to know theories of systems that will help them understand why and how things work in addition to learning how to install parts, he said.
Boozman also toured Hellstern Middle School and participated in a celebration in Fayetteville for Woodland Junior High School being named a 2017 Arkansas Diamond School To Watch. Woodland and Holt Middle School received awards through a program of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform.
NW News on 04/22/2017