Applications rise at Vantage Career Center

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent writer

Last week’s visit by hundreds of area high school sophomores shows that interest in Vantage Career Center has risen.

During Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting, High School Director Mike Knott noted that, since last Friday, 230 sophomores have applied to Vantage, compared to 155 during the same time period last year, and 134 in 2018.

“We created a lot of good buzz and our students and staff did a great job of showing the pride they have in their programs,” Knott told the board.

Knott said the next big event will be the annual open house, which is scheduled for 5-7:30 p.m. Monday, February 24, followed by mock senior job interviews and ACT testing for juniors, both to be held March 10.

Board members also heard from Senior Health Technology instructor Wendy Baumle and Career Tech supervisor Paula VanTillburg, who talked about Vantage’s new Sports Exercise Therapy Program, a two-year program for juniors and seniors that has already filled 20 of the 24 available spots.

“Most career centers in Ohio have this program, so we’re hearing a lot about athletic training, sports medicine, physical and occupational therapy, and we kept hearing the need for it, so we did a lot of research and preparation for this new program,” Baumle said.

“We’re excited to watch the next three years of implementing, reviewing, revising, and looking at this first group that goes through and finding out what their needs are and what their future looks like,” VanTillburg said.

During his report, Superintendent Rick Turner noted he and Adult Education Director Kit Tyler attended a legislative seminar in Columbus, and he updated board members on the school’s strategic plan and organizational goals for 2020-2025.

Those goals include enhancing and improving program quality and growth; increasing and expanding opportunities for work based learning; implementing strategies for data collection and analysis; maintaining and upgrading facilities, equipment, and technology; and enhancing marketing and expanding community engagement.

Board member Kim Wannemacher of Ottoville, who was absent from last month’s meeting, was sworn in to a new three-year term.

Doug Edelbrock was hired as an EMT instructor, Ted Tumbleson as a police academy/EMS instructor, and Mel White as a customized training instructor.

In other business, the board approved several trips and travel requests, including one for Auto Body and Auto Technology students to attend the Autorama Car Show in Detroit on February 28; an overnight stay for BPA (Network Systems and Interactive Media) State contestants in Columbus March 12-13; an overnight stay for HOSA (Health Technology and Health Information Management) State contestants in Columbus March 31-April 1; an overnight stay for FCCLA (Early Childhood Education, Culinary Arts, Family and Consumer Science (Van Wert) State contestants in Columbus April 22-24, and overnight and out of state travel for Theresa Mengerink to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, July 26 through August 1, to attend the Medal of Honor Legacy: Technology and the War on Terror, through the Freedoms Foundation.

Board members also accepted the donation of a 2015 Ford Explorer police cruiser worth $15,953 from the Van Wert Police Department for the adult education police academy and a $2,150 grant from Walmart Community Grants to be used by the Construction Equipment Technology program for community projects.

The next meeting of the Vantage Career Center Board of Education will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the district conference room.