D. RUSSEL LEE STUDENTS EARN BPA’S HIGHEST HONOR
Eight D. Russel Lee and six Fairfield Butler Tech Business Academy students won Torch Awards. The Program promotes active participation by members at the local, regional, state and national levels to inspire students to develop themselves as individuals and leaders. The Torch Award Program provides an excellent avenue to recognize members who have shown outstanding individual qualities that is based upon rigorous requirements.

Out of the 42,110 total BPA National members, only 1.4% were recognized this year as Ambassador Torch Award Recipients. There were 3,000 students nationally that started with this program at the beginning of the school year with only 604 completing. Out of that 604, there were 100 Torch Award recipients alone just from Ohio.

PONITZ CAREER TECHNOLOGY CENTER OPENS
The new David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center (PCTC) opened its doors August 17 to a 9th thru 12th grade student body of 536 students. On hand opening day were Sinclair President Steven Johnson, Senior Vice President Robert Johnson and Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Kurt Stanic. The school’s opening marks the culmination of three years of planning and building construction. Sinclair and former Patterson Career Center faculty and staffs collaborated in the development of the curriculum and of a wide range of Sinclair support services to be coordinated through an on-site Sinclair sponsored “College and Career Resource Center.” The school houses a ninth grade academy along with four separate career communities, each of which offers multiple secondary-postsecondary pathways based on the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) model. The school’s website is at www.ponitzctc.org. Located at 741 Washington Street in Dayton, the school’s ribbon cutting and official dedication ceremony were held at 3:00 pm on Sunday, September 13.

MVTPC DATA SHOWS CONTINUED GROWTH
Last year was a time of growth and continued gains for Miami Valley Tech Prep Consortium students. Over the past two years, MVTPC students have earned 13,302 Sinclair credit hours via proficiency testing, portfolio reviews, or articulation. That’s a real tuition savings to parents and students of over $713,000 in just two years.

The Tech Prep Scholarship remains one of the cornerstones of the consortium, especially in the current economy. Last year’s Tech Prep Scholarship disbursements exceeded $526,000 and now totals over $3.6 million dollars awarded to students since 1996.

MVTPC programs and sites continue to grow. New pathways in aviation, teacher education, early childhood education and cosmetology will be converting to Tech Prep status in 2009-10. It is safe to say that the partnerships which make up the MVTPC provide excellent opportunities and benefits to students in our region.


GHS AUTO TECH TEAM BRINGS HOME THE GOLD!
The Greenville Senior High School Automotive Technology Team won a gold medal at the Skills USA Championships during the National Leadership and Skills Conference. The Conference was held June 22 - June 26, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. Over 5,000 outstanding career and technical education students joined in the excitement of hands on competition in ninety-one different trade, technical, and leadership fields.

The 2008-2009 Auto Tech classes at Greenville Senior High School began their project in the late spring of 2008 …. Knowing they not only had to live up to the reputation of the past seven gold and one bronze national medals but their competition increased to include Manufacturing, Architecture And Construction, Science Technology and Math and Transportation Distribution and Logistics teams. The team produced a project to demonstrate of the co-efficiency of friction titled “Preventative Maintenance: What is the Life Expectancy of Your Vehicle?” Through integrated classes the students produced a Gold Medal winning presentation with American Honda Motor Company as the corporate sponsor and several local businesses and community resources helping to make the project a reality.

Both junior and senior auto students participated in the project-based learning activities of building, researching and preparing the project. The presenting team of Zackary Barger, Derrick Diehl and Christopher McDowell put in countless hours of work perfecting the presentation during class, after school, weekends, and over holiday breaks. These students are locally employed in the industry at Ohio Crankshaft, Troutwine Auto Sales, Inc. and Hittle Pontiac-Buick-GMC-Cadillac. The driving force behind the team is Mr. Jim Anderson and Mr. Travis Nicholas; both are ASE-Master Certified instructors. Mr. Anderson has taught for the past 26 years at GHS and is truly the gold behind the medals the automotive program has earned through the years.