News

Local teacher takes his class on the road

By Scott Wagar

07/10/2012

School might end for the majority of the teachers at Bottineau High School on Memorial Day weekend, but for two teachers, their roles as educators continue on after the school year where they teach an entire one year course in just three weeks.

“We do an accelerated building trade program every summer in Rugby with the North Central Area Career and Technical Center,” said Rod Schmidt, Bottineau High School building trades instructor, who is assisted by Gary Richard, paraeducator for Bottineau’s junior and senior high schools. “The purpose of this accelerated course is to get to students from small towns in the outlying area that do not have a building trade program in their schools and to offer this program to these students.”

The North Central Area Career and Technical Center is headquartered in Rugby and directed by Kathy McCracken, who established the program in 2009 with Schmidt and Richard.

“Kathy called me four years ago and told me about this program. She asked if I would be interested in teaching the program and told me that she had a grant for $50,000 to buy a vehicle, a trailer and tools, everything we needed to get this program set-up,” Schmidt said. “Gary agreed to do the project with me, and we went to ACME and spent a total of $30,000 on tools. We then put together a mobile shop with the vehicle and trailer and headed for Rugby.

The accelerated course takes place every June for three weeks where the students during the work week put in five hours a day in course and construction work.

“It’s five hours of intense work, instead of the hour and a half I normally work with the students each day during a normal school year,” Schmidt said. “They learn as much in three weeks as my students in Bottineau learn in a single year. The students also receive half a credit and are given a grade.”
This year, Schmidt had four students, which turned out to be a unique summer for Schmidt and Richard because for the first time in their building trade careers they educated a group of younger students.

“In the past, it has always been junior and seniors. But, this year I had three upcoming freshman and one sophomore, which Gary and I am not accustom to and I was a little worried about,” Schmidt said. “In the past summer programs, I had students who were trying to make-up some credits. But, even with this year’s kids being so young, they wanted to be there, they wanted to learn, they had a different motivation then the guys in past years. And, these young students were absolute sponges when it came to learning building trades. Every year has turned out well for Gary and I, but this year with eager, younger minds who had really great attitudes, we had the best summer by far out of all the summers put together.”

This year, the four students constructed a garage for David and Julie Sjol of Rugby.

“It was an on sight job where we went to the Sjol’s home and built a garage for them,” Schmidt said. “We built a 24 by 16-foot garage and these boys received a good education, because they had to install an over head door, a service door, three windows, ten foot high walls and even sided the garage with vinyl siding. The kids did everything in one of the hottest summers Gary and I have seen since we started this program; and, the guys did a great job.”

The reason Schmidt and Richard chose a garage to construct this summer was because they wanted to teach the students community involvement and self-worth.

“We normally build sheds in this summer program, but this year we wanted to build something more than just a shed to give the students a sense of pride of what they are doing in the community,” Schmidt said.

Over the past three years, the students who were involved in the program didn’t return the next summer to do it again, but for this group of students, they plan to come back next year and continue through their high school years.

“It was fun at the end,” Schmidt said. “They kept asking me if we were coming back next summer. These kids really want to come back next year and continue on to their senior years, which is good because they will be exposed to a lot.”

To date, only students from Rugby High School have participated in the summer building trade program. However, Schmidt said the program is open to every community in the local area.

“Any kids can participate. You don’t have to be specifically from Rugby High School. You can be from Willow City, Harvey, Glenburn, anywhere in the area. If a student has access to a vehicle and can drive to Rugby, they can be part of the program,” Schmidt said. “And, we would like to see students from different rural towns because not only do they get the chance to learn building trades, but it gives the kids the opportunity to meet other students from other schools, giving them the chance to socialize with other kids, which is important at this age.”

The North Central Area Career and Technical Center only accepts 10 students each summer. So, those students who would like to get involve, it is a first come, first serve basis.

The students, who get the opportunity to be in the North Central Area Career and Technical Center summer program get the chance to have two instructors who have experience in education and field work. Between Schmidt and Richard, the two men have 65 years of experience in field work, along with 13 years as educators.

“It’s tough to find that combination,” Richard said.
Individuals who are interested in the North Central Area Career and Technical Center’s building trade program, call (701) 776-7208.