News

WATC student, Dorita Barnett, was nominated by her employer for the LeadingAge Kansas (formerly known as KAHSA) Caregiver of the Year. LeadingAge Kansas is an association of 160 not-for-profit aging services providers dedicated to serving the needs of aging Kansans. This award is presented to a LeadingAge Kansas member’s activity professional, social worker, nurse, nurse aide, dietary or environmental services employee who demonstrates remarkable commitment to the elders they serve.  Dorita recently learned that she had won the award and received it Friday, April 13. Dorita shared some information with us about herself and her experiences in the healthcare industry.

I’ve worked as a CNA at KMH (Kansas Masonic Home) for the past 5 years, I love what I do and enjoy it to the fullest. My job is so rewarding and I always try to put my best foot forward, in everything I do. When I enter my workplace my employers and patients know that I am there for them. I am so excited about accepting my award on Friday and greatly appreciate all the recognition of my hard work and duties. I am in the LPN program at WATC (Wichita Area Technical College) for furthering my education and to continue giving the excellent care that my patient’s deserve. I will continue to do my best and work hard at what I do. It is a great feeling to know that I can and have made a difference in someone’s life!!!

WATC is proud to have such a caring and thoughtful person as one of our students. Keep up the great work, Dorita!

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A power outage resulting from weekend storms has required WATC to close its Southside campus Tuesday, April 17.

Off-site healthcare clinicals to continue as scheduled.

WATC’s other two campuses, NCAT and Grove, will be open.

The status of Southside for Wednesday will be announced by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

For updates, call our emergency closings phone number at 677-9596 or follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ WATCWICHITA.

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A power outage resulting from weekend storms has required WATC to close its Southside campus today (Monday, 4/16/12). A new update regarding the status of Southside for Tuesday, 4/17 will be available by 4 p.m. today.

WATC’s other two campuses, NCAT and Grove, will be open.

The job fair scheduled for Monday afternoon at Southside has been postponed indefinitely.

For updates, call our emergency closings phone number at 677-9596 or follow us Facebook and Twitter @ WATCWICHITA.

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The National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT) is WATC’s main campus and a state-of-the-art aviation and manufacturing training facility that has drawn visitors from around the world. NCAT will be free and open to the general public at the WATC Open House on Wednesday, April 18 from 3 PM – 7 PM.

The 225,000 square foot facility, including labs and classrooms that offer the latest in cutting-edge machinery, technology and training tools, as well as a hangar filled with aircraft, will be available for tours. Not only can attendees see first-hand what an exciting environment advanced manufacturing and aviation training is, but they can also learn about over 75 high-wage, high-demand certifications and degrees available at our three WATC campus locations. Faculty will be showcasing their programs by providing demonstrations and involving participants in hands-on activities.

Prizes will be given away, including the new Apple iPad, five separate $1000 scholarships available to new students, and concert tickets for some of this summer’s hottest shows! Don’t miss out on the fun, come see us at 4004 N. Webb Road this Wednesday, April 18 from 3 PM- 7 PM.

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WATC’s third annual Easter Basket community service activity was a huge success.  In its first year, the Easter Basket service was able to assemble and deliver 80 baskets. The following year, the number grew to 82. In 2012, the goal was to gather enough donations to assemble 100 Easter Baskets. With the help of the students, staff, and faculty, as well as involvement from McConnell Air Force Base, they were able to meet and exceed their goal and deliver nearly double what they have in years past. On March 30^th, volunteers happily delivered 146 Easter Baskets to Youthville for them to distribute to children.

The event arose three years ago from the Psychology and Sociology courses at WATC, which require a Service Learning Project involving 8 hours of community service. When Patty Aubert, Academic Coordinator, General Education was transferred to Southside campus, she was asked to help find additional service learning projects for students.  She and Tina Slovak, Academic Coordinator, Health & Natural Sciences thought of creating Easter Baskets for the children of Youthville. The project created a great opportunity in the middle of the Spring semester for students to fulfill their community service requirement as well as a chance to provide something through WATC to Youthville.

Youthville is an organization whose mission is to “give children back their childhood”. They work to provide the best sources of help for children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by offering programs in adoption, foster care, counseling, and psychiatric treatment. Youthville also happens to be next door neighbors to WATC’s Southside campus.

The donations are collected around a month in advance. Through flyers and email notifications, students, faculty, and staff are alerted to please bring items ranging from candy, eggs, clothing, games, books, puzzles, bubbles, hats, perfume, jewelry, socks, toiletries, as well as items from the WATC bookstore to drop boxes in commons areas of all three campuses. This year, one of the student volunteers had a spouse at McConnell Air Force Base and they contacted Patty to see if McConnell could help collect candy for the baskets. Patty gratefully agreed and not only was 95% of the candy collected through McConnell, several airmen came to help prep and assemble the baskets with all of the donated items.

WATC has other community service projects involving Youthville.  Last year WATC became involved with the Big Hearts Challenge, a campaign that runs February through April where donations are collected online and every donation within the first $5,000 is matched by Sunflower Bank.  There is also the used and donated cell phone collection that is going on currently as well as the upcoming Youthville Wish List campaign.

If you are interested in becoming involved with these community service opportunities or would like to find other ways that you can donate your time, please contact Patty Aubert at 316.677.9460.

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On Saturday, March 31^st NCAT hosted the 2012 SkillsUSA State competition for aviation maintenance.  Five WATC aviation maintenance students competed against five K-State aviation maintenance students.  The event began at 9:00am and concluded at 3:30pm.  The WATC students were Sid Dorsey, Riley Mallatt, Adrian Ibarra-Solis, Nathan Reed, and Ethan Warrington.  The WATC coaches were Dawn Brown, Lewis Wesson, and Bob Beard.

There were ten tasks the competitors had to complete; constructing a control cable, identifying turbine parts, performing a composite tap test, properly inspecting and installing a spark plug, performing a dye-penetrant inspection, building an electrical circuit, assembling and servicing a shimmy damper, inspecting reciprocating engine parts, constructing a rigid tubing line, and fabricating a sheet metal project.  These tasks were judged by industry personnel who graciously donated their time and expertise to making the event a success.  At the end of the competition the industry judges gave the students insight to making their future careers in aviation successful.  The industry judges represented Cessna, Yingling, Spirit AeroSystems, and Flight Safety International (Hawker).

The results of this event shall be revealed on April 27 at the awards ceremony.  There will be a 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place announced with the winner given the chance to compete at Nationals representing Kansas in aviation maintenance.

The WATC AMT program is certified by the FAA and prepares you to obtain your FAA mechanic’s license also known as the A&P – (Airframe & Powerplant).  With an A&P license you are not restricted to just maintenance on aircraft, there are a wide range of opportunities available once you have your license; from cruise ships to amusement park rides, and from NASCAR speedboats to wind farms.  But hurry, enrollment ends May 1st so stop by 4004 N. Webb to visit with AMT advisors,  Lacey and Jan, or call 316-677-9421 today!

For more pictures of the day’s competition, please check out our Facebook album.

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Is your wrist cramping trying to fill in your NCAA bracket? Tired of trying to read your co-worker’s barely legible handwriting? Back by popular demand, we have a clear, printable version of the NCAA tournament bracket. The bracket is composed on an Excel spreadsheet. Fill the bracket out by selecting the winners using a drop down menu that appears with two teams. Good luck!

Download Excel NCAA 2012 bracket.

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WATC recently completed the first of three computer lab upgrades at the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT). The new Dell workstations offer blazing-fast Intel® Core i7 2600 Processors with 8 virtual cores, a whopping 16GB of RAM, a high speed solid state drive and dedicated graphics card driving a high resolution 24 inch monitor. These machines are ideal for high-end CATIA, Computer Aided Design, and other demanding applications. Students and instructors are enjoying increased productivity as a result of the upgrades.

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Over five hundred Boy Scouts, ages 11 to 18, and over 200 leaders will take over Wichita Area Technical College NCAT Campus, and Southside Education Center on Saturday, February 25th to participate in the 8th Annual Merit Badge College.

The all day event gives scouts the opportunity to earn up to two merit badges in one day. WATC Faculty will not be using their normal text books to educate the scouts. Instead, they will adopt the Boy Scout’s Merit Badge Books to facilitate their teaching. WATC is using this opportunity as a way to get involved with the community and also to reach Scouts who could become students at WATC in the coming years.

“Last year, we were pleased to include  the new Robotics Merit Badge to our lineup at this annual event.  This year, with the use of WATC’s state-of-the-art NCAT (National Center for Aviation and Technology) facility, the new Robotics Program offered is a perfect fit for Boy Scouts and Wichita Area Technical College.  ”It’s a very popular choice during registration,” says Ryan Heikes, Staff Director for Quivira Council, BSA.

Quivira Council Scout Executive, Mike Johnson, adds, “Spirit AeroSystems is the STEM partner with Quivira Council and a sponsor for this event.  Spirit AeroSystems recognizes the importance of  the recent STEM program from the National BSA, and that it is important to help our young people learn skills and knowledge in the science and technology areas to help them succeed in life.  We are very appreciative of Spirit Aerosystem’s sponsorship.”

Eight years ago WATC & Quivira Council started this event allowing approximately 225 youth work on 13 merit badges. Through the hard work and dedication of scout leaders and WATC faculty and staff such as, Linda Sessions, Lead Faculty, Computer Technology, youth participation grew to 400 Scouts and 20 Badges by 2010. This year’s event will see over 500 Scouts and 200 leaders participating in 30 Badge Studies at both the NCAT and Southside Campus of WATC.

“We look forward to continuing to partner with WATC, which benefits the youth served in Boy Scouts as well as the Wichita Area Technical College”, says Heikes. “This is an event that Scouts and Leaders look forward to all year.”

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. The Scouting organization is composed of 2.7 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 20 throughout the United States and its territories. Locally, Quivira Council, BSA serves 30 counties in southeastern Kansas with more than 13,000 registered youth in their program. 2010 is the 100th Anniversary of Scouting! For more information about Boy Scouts of America, visit www.quivira.org.

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