September 2010

Hear from WATC students attending classes at the National Center for Aviation Training. Special thanks to featured students Corey Chance – Machining Technology, Rod Ganzer – Aviation Maintenance Technology, Natasha Paul – Mechanical Engineering Design, Rayden Staton – Composite Repair, Betty Saenz – CNA, CMA, Composit Fab and Composite Repair, Brandon Stone – Aviation Maintenance Technology.

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All college offices will be closed on Thursday, September 30 due to an all-college in-service meeting.  No classes will be held.

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Bridget Mack’s Design Studio 1 class is donating a chair to the Red Chair Affair, a fundraiser for the Wichita Orpheum Theatre.

Interior Design students Kenna, Monica and Tasha decorate the chair that will be donated to the Red Chair Affair.

Bridget first heard about the Red Chair Affair from listening to Jennifer Wright pomote the fundraiser on B98FM. She saw an opportunity for her Interior Design students to help and submitted a chair entry form. After she purchased a chair she left it up to her students to take it through the design process. Typical steps that students go through include brainstorming, problem solving, listing constraints, programming, creative thinking, scheduling, budgeting and deciding on materials requirements.

“We came up with the idea for a tail gate party chair. Its football season – and it was either the Chiefs the Jayhawks,” the students said.

The Orpheum is one of the buildings toured in the Interior Design Seminars class. The class meets and tours buildings of architectural interest, vendors that only allow access to Interior Designers, and other historical landmarks.

“We use the Orpheum Theatre in our Interior Design Seminars class because of it’s architectural interest and historic value to Wichita. So we’re happy to help give something back to the Orpheum,” said Bridget.

Students going through the program are Interior Designers, as opposed to Decorators. Decorators deal mostly with aesthetics such as pillows, curtains and making things pretty. Interior Designers do that as well, but also receive training covering materials, building codes,  fire codes, safety codes, ADA codes and work with other professionals on the project like architects.

“This class is a culmination of all things learned in our previous classes,” said Kenna who only needs 2 more classes to graduate. The Design Studio 1 class is one of the final classes required for the Interior Design Associate of Applied Science degree.

The Red Chair Affair is Wednesday, September 29 at the Wichita Marriott.

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A new series, The Aviators, will be airing on KPTS this fall. The Aviators is a weekly magazine-style TV series featuring interesting people, the latest aircraft, the coolest technology and the best fly-in destinations.

Register online for your FREE tickets to a special screening of the first episode. This event will be held Tuesday, September 21, at the new National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT), 4004 N. Webb Road, Building 300, Student Center.

Tours of NCAT will be given every 15 mintues beginning at 6:00 p.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m.  Screenings are at 7:00pm and 8:00pm.  Tickets are free, but seating is limited so please RSVP online for either the 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm showing:

Please call Katelyn at KPTS, 316-838-3090 ext. 200, if you need reservation assistance.

Sponsors include Wichita Aero Club, KPTS, NIAR, Kansas Aviation Museum and Wichita Area Technical College.

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WATC will be holding an information session for those students interested in the Licensed Practical Nurse Program.

This session is required if you are applying for January, 2011.  Please choose from one of the following sessions:

• September 13, 2010 7:00pm-9:00pm
• September 15, 2010 3:00pm-5:00pm
• September 17, 2010 9:00am-11:00am

The sessions are at the Southside Center, 4501 E. 47th S., Wichita, KS.  For more information contact Learner Services at 316.677.1500.  Registration is required.

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As copied with permission from Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners blog written by by 2nd District Commissioner Tim Norton

August 31, 2010

Just recently, Commissioner Unruh and I had a chance to tour the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT) at Jabara Airport. The occasion was a chance to interface with John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce at the federal level. He was in town looking at several sites to which the Commerce Department had funded grants or other support. It was a whirlwind visit but a good chance to showcase what is fast becoming a hotbed of activity for aviation research and training and other seminars and conferences. This opportunity enabled us to make great contacts with several other Commerce Department regional representatives.

Representatives from the U.S. Dept of Commerce, Wichita City Council and Wichita City Commission members tour NCAT. Click to view more photos.

NCAT was fully operational earlier this week and is starting to fill up with students. Approximately 500 students are now receiving training at NCAT. This number will grow exponentially in the next few years as the aviation industry rebounds and skilled workers are in even greater demand. Manufacturing programs that were incubated and functional at other satellite locations were quickly moved to the new center during the summer break. The Airframe and Powerplant programs previously located in two separate facilities are now joined in one location.

NCAT is comprised of three buildings:

1. Gateway houses student services, career development, the assessment center and Wichita Area Technical College (WATC) administrative offices.
2. Manufacturing Tech Center, where research and training come together, hosts WSU’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and WATC.
3. Aircraft Service Center houses the Manufacturing Center and the Airframe and Powerplant Center are joined by a student commons, a catering kitchen and a 200-seat auditorium. There are a total of 222,000 square feet in the facility.

Labs in the Manufacturing Center include: composites, advanced manufacturing, CATIA/CAD, welding, sheet metal, applied research, industrial electronics, CNC machining and advanced coatings. In the Airframe and Powerplant building you will find labs for the following: nondestructive inspection, avionics, power plant, propeller, airframe, welding and material testing.

At this time there are two partners at NCAT. WATC is designated as the managing partner for the campus. WATC will be responsible for developing curriculum and delivering training to meet aviation manufactures’ needs. The second partner is WSU’s NIAR led by Dr. John Tomblin who has experience in managing composite, advanced materials and mechanical testing labs. NIAR will be researching new and advanced manufacturing techniques that can be quickly integrated with aviation training at NCAT.

I am convinced that the National Center for Aviation Training will be an integral part of maintaining and fostering the future of aviation manufacturing, service and research in our community. We should all understand the importance of the aerospace industry to Sedgwick County and the region. A trained workforce will be extremely important. Partnerships with the FAA, NTSB, the Commerce Department and others will be critical to building a national presence. The research and testing that NIAR brings to the table sets the center up for being a one-of-a-kind facility that has huge capabilities to meet the needs of the aviation industry in Wichita and around the nation.

We cannot afford to discount the impact that the aviation cluster has on our community. This investment must be seen as instrumental in fostering and promoting the future of aerospace in Wichita with industry-driven workforce training, world class testing, leading edge research and a facility that is second to none in equipment, instrumentation, curriculum and connection to the leaders in aviation.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for letting me get a word in edgewise. tn

As copied from Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners blog

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Composite Technology student Susan Forrester

“I’m all about Wichita. I am proud of my home town, and proud to call Wichita the Air Capital of the World.”

Susan didn’t think she’d ever go to school again.  “An opportunity arose and doors just kept opening,” she said. As a displaced worker, she had fears of starting school again when contacted by the Workforce Center. It took a lot of encouragement and support from her family to take the necessary placement tests before starting college. She worried that her math skills would prevent her from entering the program.

“Once I got here (the National Center for Aviation Training), I realized that there were people in class just like me,” she said.  This reinforced her excitement of not only being trained with new job skills, but getting a college degree at the same time. She is thankful her instructor Kevin Henning is so supportive. “He works with us and encourages us to ask questions,” she said. 

Thinking of attending air shows at McConnell Air Force Base is what spurred Susan to think of the suggestion Touch N Go.  She talked it over with her instructor and her sister.  The rest of her family became excited and rallied to support her choice.  The NCAT café and student center look out onto the runway of Jabara airport; students eating lunch will often seen planes landing and taking off.

“NCAT is a worthy investment,” she said.

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