Area sophomores learn about Vantage

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Approximately 700 high school 10th-graders had the chance to learn about Vantage Career Center’s 17 career programs during Vantage’s Sophomore Day on Friday.

Sophomores spent the day learning construction techniques, painting auto bodies — either virtually with Vantage’s new virtual paint system or in its paint booth — learned to weld, and operate a number of manufacturing and maintenance equipment.

One of the most popular programs was Vantage’s new criminal justice class. Instructor Zach Miller, the approximately 20 students in the class, as well as a number of local law enforcement officers, including Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach, watched demonstrations on how to subdue a suspect, got to participate in a physical training exercise, fingerprinted themselves, and had the chance to see inside Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol cruisers outside Vantage.

With more and more jobs opening up in the area because of the retirement of Baby Boomers, as well as new jobs created by expansions at Eaton Corporation and the recent merger of Braun Industries and a Canadian ambulance maker, more and more students are finding good-paying careers that don’t require a college education.

Especially needed by local companies are healthcare workers, welders, toolmakers, and machine maintenance workers, with Vantage students often finding jobs in those fields before they even graduate.

Vantage staff members demonstrated the skills students would learn in the school’s various programs, while also providing hands-on opportunities, such as computer networking, programming, and trying out new virtual reality equipment, creating interactive media, and learning various medical procedures.

The event allows high school sophomores to check out career programs at Vantage to see whether any of the 17 programs is something they would like to do for a living. Sophomores can then enroll in a program and spend the final two years of their high school careers at Vantage learning a trade or career path.