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Fox Valley Technical College Wood Manufacturing Technology program

Fox Valley Technical College Woodworking Program Slates 36th Annual Open House

Fox Valley Technical College Hands-on, High-Tech open house

Last year, Fox Valley Technical College hosted more than 50o area high school students at its Hands-on, High-Tech open house.

The Woodworking Technology program at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, will hold its 36th annual Hands-On, High-Tech open house April 16 and 17.

FVTC, a founding EDUcation member of the Woodwork Career Alliance, is inviting instructors and students from every high school woodworking program within 100 miles of Oshkosh to participate in the event.

Groups of 25 or less at a time will tour the school’s 11,000-square-foot lab. Each group will progress through a series of activities led by FVTC. Each group’s 90-minute lab session will culminate with creating a finished product that each school group can take back with them.

Each group will then spend about 30 minutes in the Residential Building Construction program lab engaged in activities with that course. This year, FVTC will also host local employers and material suppliers in a job exposition that exposes high school students to the wide variety of jobs that are available locally. These jobs include everything from kitchen cabinetry and closets to aircraft and yacht interiors, spiral stairs, high-end architectural millwork, and furniture manufacturing opportunities.

FVTC hosted 32 groups with a total of 532 students over the two days of Hands On, High Tech open house last year.

For more information, contact FTVC instructors Mark Lorge at mark.lorge9989@fvtc.edu or Glenn Koerner, woodworking instructor at koerner@fvtc.edu.

Learn more about FVTC’s Wood Technology program.

Fox Valley Tech Grad Earns National Woodworking Award

By Casey Britten

When Pacey Berken chose his final project in the Fox Valley Technical College Woodworking Technology program, he was thinking of his grandparents.

“My grandparents put me through the program, so I figured they should get a little return on their investment,” the 2022 graduate explains. “I wanted to design a chair that would provide them with good back support and be easy to get in and out of.”

He ended up making four chairs total, as well as two matching side tables.

Pacey Burke, a graduate of Fox Valley Technical College’s Woodworking Technology program with his chair that won second place in the postsecondary Seating category at the AWFS Fair.

His project, made from an exotic hardwood called African Sapele, caught the attention of his instructors, Glenn Koerner and Mark Lorge. They encouraged him to enter it in the 2023 Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS) Fresh Wood student furniture competition, which took place in Las Vegas in conjunction with the AWFS Fair in July.

Pacey was intrigued. “I looked into it and heard, ‘They pay for your hotel. They pay for your shipping. They pay for your flight.’ Pretty much a free trip to Vegas. I was like, ‘What’s the catch here?’ So, I signed up.”

The competition was fierce. Pacey was one of 142 students from the United States and Canada to apply. Just 40 of those applicants were selected to go to Las Vegas, and Pacey was one of them.

His chair won second place in his category.

The AWFS is a leading wood industry trade association in the United States, representing companies that supply the home and commercial furnishings industry. The AWFS Fair Fresh Wood competition is widely recognized within the industry.

“It’s a tough competition,” explains Korner. “The caliber of projects at this year’s competition was very impressive. Pacey did an exceptional job promoting FVTC and the Woodworking Technology program!”

The original idea for the chair began while Pacey was a senior at Appleton North High School in the spring of 2020. Because of COVID and the shift to virtual classes, he never got the chance to build the Adirondack chair that would have been his final project in shop class. So, when it was time to choose his final project for the FVTC Woodworking Technology program, he immediately thought of a chair.

Pacey chose to study Woodworking Technology while he was taking general education classes at FVTC, originally intending to transfer to UW-Stout to become a tech ed teacher. He explains, “When I found out about the Woodworking Technology program here, I said, ‘Wow, I want to do that!’” and enrolled in the Oshkosh-based program.

It’s clear that he made the right decision.

“I can wholeheartedly say that I enjoyed the program one hundred percent. It is a fantastic learning experience. Mark and Glenn teach you not only how to do it, but the theory behind what you’re doing. And once you learn that theory, it opens a lot of doors, and I enjoy that.”

Pacey currently works at Woodcraft in Appleton, with side gigs like private tutoring, a new venture in a tool-sharpening business, and interning with the Woodworking Technology program.

“I couldn’t say goodbye to that shop and to Mark and Glenn and everything that they do there. It is just a fantastic experience. I cannot say enough good things about the program,” he says.

To continue his internship, Pacey still takes classes at FVTC. “I take classes in topics I’m interested in. The broad spectrum of classes that FVTC offers is nice too. Plus, it’s super affordable and it really feels like the college cares about us.”

Fox Valley Technical College Wood Manufacturing Technology program

How Fox Valley Tech Preps Students for Woodworking Careers

Fox Valley Technical College Wood Manufacturing Technology program

Mark Lorge, left, and Glenn Koerner are the instructors of Fox Valley Technical College’s Wood Manufacturing Technology program.

The Wood Manufacturing Technology program at Fox Valley Technical Center (FVTC) in Oshkosh, Wis., has a rich 41-year tradition of graduating students ready to embark on successful careers.

The nationally-recognized program also has a long affiliation with the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

Jerry Finch, who established FVTC’s woodworking program in 1982, was a founding member of the WCA Board of Directors in 2007. Finch served as lead woodworking instructor at FVTC until he retired in 2006. Since then, the program has been led by Mark Lorge, who worked alongside Finch beginning in 1995. Today, Lorge is ably assisted by Glenn Koerner, who came on board after Finch departed.

About FVTC’s Woodworking Program
Fox Valley’s woodworking program is an immersive program that meets all day, five days a week for a full year. The goal is to make sure that the students who earn their Technical Diploma have the knowledge and skills to jump-start their careers.

Students are trained to safely use everything from portable power tools and classic woodworking equipment through programming and operating CNC machinery. They also learn how to read blueprints, maintain tools and work as part of a team.

“We take a tag team approach,” Lorge says. “Glenn and I are interchangeable throughout the course. We both bring different experiences to the course, so our students go out with a well-rounded knowledge of the industry. We start out with the very basics. We show how a table can make a rip cut, cross cut, dado, rabbet, miter or a bevel. We then explain how to use a table saw for joinery purposes and how it can actually be used as the only machine to create a piece of furniture.

“Every unit builds on the previous unit,” Lorge continues. “As we get deeper into it, we start looking at processes. While our program is initially instruction-driven, the students take that knowledge we’ve given them to do a specific activity. As we progress throughout the year, the course becomes less instructor driven and more student driven. They apply the knowledge that they have learned doing activities and extrapolating that knowledge into building something that is more complex.”

“We really try to mimic what it’s like to be in a cabinet shop so that the students get an idea of the pace and what it’s like to work all day long in this environment,” Koerner says. “They’ll run into roadblocks where someone might be on the machine they want to use, so they’ll have to redirect themselves, stay on task and find a different process to work on. In our program outcomes, we help students learn to anticipate process errors and take corrective actions. I think that’s an important part of what students learn here. Something might go wrong and you have to figure how to recover from that and turn it into something positive. I think the pace and the environment really sets the student up for what to expect when they graduate and start their first job in the industry.”

Koerner adds that safety training in a core component of the program. “A big part about safety is teaching them where the dangers lie so that they don’t put themselves in a bad situation.”

A Wood Products Powerhouse
Oshkosh is located in east central Wisconsin, about 80 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The area is a veritable powerhouse of wood products manufacturing. The wood supply chain stretches from hardwood timber harvesting and sawmilling through a plethora of secondary woodworking companies of all sizes and types.

FVTC students tour Concept Works,

FVTC students toured Concept Works, giving them an opportunity to see the inner workings of a custom wood products company.

“The state of Wisconsin has such a wide variety of opportunities in secondary wood processing,” Lorge notes. “The last I heard the state has around 50,000 people employed in this industry. There’s everything from cabinets and furniture to yachts and aircraft interiors, plus commercial restaurant interiors, windows and doors, and more. Most of that variety is within 30 miles of where we are. Because there are so many diverse opportunities, we really try to give our students a broad-based education so that they can choose where they want to go and still make a positive impact for their employer.”

Lorge and Koerner, building on Finch’s pioneering work, continually cultivate new and strengthen existing relationships with local wood product companies. The most obvious beneficiary of these efforts are the students who can each count on receiving multiple job opportunities upon graduating.

Examples of FVTC’s relationships with industry include:

  • The program is vetted by a 14-member advisory panel, mainly made up of representatives of small and large woodworking companies, plus industry suppliers. The board’s input helps ensure that the program’s curriculum remains in alignment with industry’s needs.
  • Lorge has been a member of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Architectural Woodwork Institute since 2009. AWI membership provides regular networking opportunities with representatives of woodworking companies and suppliers, and also helps keep Fox Valley Technical College top of mind as a go-to-source for well=trained woodworkers ready to hit the ground running.
  • Over the years, FVTC has received a treasure trove of donations including exotic veneers, hardwood plywood and other valuable materials that allows the program to stretch its supply budget.
  • There is no shortage of companies willing to provide tours of their shops to students. Last fall, FVTC students toured ConceptWorks, a manufacturer of architectural millwork, retail fixtures and showroom and trade show displays based in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

“ConceptWorks is just one of many great manufacturers who have opened their doors for our students to tour over the years,” Lorge says. “We have also toured other high-end architectural woodwork shops such as T.J. Hale and Glen Rieder, as well as hardwood lumber mills like Kretz Lumber and Granite Valley Forest Products, and tooling suppliers Vortex and Great Lakes Custom Tool. We’ve also visited Gulf Stream Aviation, which makes custom wood interiors for private jets, and Burger Boats. It’s a really eye-opening experience for our students to go to a place that makes ultra=luxury yachts. One of our graduates is working on a bed for a yacht that is a quarter of million dollars.”

Lorge adds, “Students come to our program thinking they are going to make kitchen cabinets. These tours make them aware that there are lots of opportunities.”

Hands-on, High-Tech Open House
Just as industry looks to FVTC to recruit graduates, FVTC looks to area high school programs for potential new students.

Since 1988, the FTVC Wood Manufacturing Technology program has hosted its Hands-on, High Tech open house. This year’s event is scheduled for April 18 and 19.

“We have had upwards of 700 students come through our woodworking lab over the two days,” Lorge says. “We’re in the process of inviting around 275 instructors from every high school within about a 100-mile radius of Oshkosh. My goal is 1,000 students.”

Fox Valley Technical College Hands-on, High-Tech open house

Every year, FTVC hosts hundreds of area high school students at its Hands-on, High-Tech open house.

“Each group that comes through is greeted by Glenn, who gives them a quick overview of our program and what they can expect to happen for the day,” Lorge says. “Then we will lead them on a tour where they actually make a finished product that they can take home. Last year we made a desk lamp.

“The first stop for the product we plan to make is an Altendorf sliding table saw that the vast majority of high schools don’t have,” Lorge continues. “These students are going to look at this saw and go, ‘Wow!’ Our students will do a demonstration and then put a student on it and safely guide him or her through the operation. They’ll make a few cuts and then they’ll go to the next station.

“It’s really fun to watch how our students’ confidence levels grow throughout the two days. At first, they are usually not comfortable talking to groups. But by the end of the second day our students have gone in a straight upward incline and realize that they know what they are talking about. The confidence boost that our students get is immeasurable. It’s one more thing that helps make them ready for their first job.”

Speaking of graduates taking their place in the woodworking industry, Koerner tells this story.

“We ran into a graduate at IWF last year who was with the owner of the company and also another person on her team. She said something that left a lump in mine and I think Mark’s throats. It was really touching. She said, ‘Prior to taking your program I was sweeping the shop floor and now after taking the program I’m supervising the shop floor.’ She said she learned so much from the program that it really advanced her career and it was touching for both Mark and I to hear that and how much impact we had on her life and her career.”

“It’s really nice for us to be recognized for the quality of the students that we are putting out,” Lorge adds. “Out reputation is all we have and we work really hard to protect it.”

Learn more about Fox Valley Technical College’s Wood Manufacturing Technology program.

Video: Fox Valley Tech Grad Shares His Love for Woodworking

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Even before graduating from the Wood Manufacturing Technology program at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) last August, Patrick Volkmann had landed a job with Black Wolf Design, a custom woodworking firm based in Omro, WI.

Volkmann’s is but one of a parade of stories about FTVC grads who have launched successful woodworking careers.

In the accompanying video, Volkmann discusses what led him to enroll at FVTC and the skills training and mentorship he received at the highly respected program.

FTVC is an EDUcation member of the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America, a not-for-profit organization driven to help develop and grow a skilled woodworking workforce in the U.S. and Canada.

Read more about Volkmann’s journey and learn more about FTVC’s Woodworking Manufacturing Technology program.

 

Mark Lorge of Fox Valley Technical College with Staci Sievert of Seymour High School

Sievert Steps Up and Seymour’s Tech-Ed Program Takes Off

Congratulations Staci Sievert!

The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America congratulates Staci Sievert for being a winner of the 2021 Prize for Teacher Excellence Award presented by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools (HFTS).

Sievert, a technical education teacher at Seymour High School in Seymour, WI, was one of 18 winners in HTFS’ fifth annual program that honors instructors of U.S. public high school technical education programs. This year, HFTS awarded more than $1 million to the 18 outstanding skilled trades teachers and their programs.

Read how Sievert, a WCA accredited skill evaluator, transitioned from teaching social studies to teaching woodworking, metal machining, and welding with the invaluable assistance of Fox Valley Technical College.

Tom Mueller, principal of Seymour High School, presents Staci Sievert a ceremonial check for being a winner of the 2021 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. $35,000 of the $50,000 proceeds will support Seymour High’s technical education program. The remaining $15,000 goes to Sievert.

Four years ago, the technical education program at Seymour High School of Seymour, WI, was in turmoil. Unable to hire qualified full-time tech-ed instructors for several years running, the school had no recourse but to employ long-term substitutes to teach woodworking, metalworking, and welding.

Entering Fall 2017, the Seymour High tech-ed program was about to limp through another academic year relying on a temporary instructor. That’s when Staci Sievert, 22 years a social studies teacher, volunteered to make the leap from the classroom to the woodshop.

“I was in principal Tom Mueller’s office when he read an email from the guy he had just hired. ‘I’m going to do something else instead.’ That would have been the fourth year for us to have a long-term sub in the tech-ed position,” she says, adding “I’m from here and I didn’t like seeing the tech-ed program tanking. I knew they couldn’t hire tech-ed instructors but that they could hire a social studies teacher.”

Sievert decided right then and there that enough was enough. She told Mueller, “Shoot, do you think I could learn that? I would do that.” He came back to me later and said, ‘Are you serious because you haven’t failed us yet. I think you can.’”

Soon after that exchange, Sievert was not only offered the tech-ed position, she was asked to start her new teaching assignment right away. She pushed back. “I made it clear that I was willing to do this, but that I would need to take classes before I could teach a topic to an acceptable standard.”

Sievert elaborates. “I was totally up for the challenge and thought it would be interesting, but I was not a tech-ed person. I had never welded before. I had probably cut on a table saw like three times in my life. I once built a chicken coop using a miter saw. That was the extent of my wood manufacturing experience. Basically, zero.”

From Knowing Zero to Tech-Ed Hero
Sievert struck a deal with school administrators. She would continue teaching social studies in Fall 2017 while taking one-on-one woodworking lessons with Mark Lorge, department chair of Fox Valley Technical College’s wood manufacturing program. Fox Valley is an EDUcation member of the Woodwork Career Alliance (WCA).

“As a former social studies teacher, I was starting at ground level. If I was going to be successful learning new skills and furthering the Seymour High School tech-ed program, I needed training and I needed a mentor. My first move was to call Mark Lorge,” Sievert says. “He was willing to create a unique schedule and curriculum for me beyond his normal course load.”

Mark Lorge, lead woodworking instructor at Fox Valley Technical College,  and Staci Sievert pose with a glued-up arch for a cherry table she built under Lorge’s instruction.

“I was allowed to leave school a half-hour early on Tuesdays and Thursdays and bee-lined to the Fox Valley wood manufacturing center in Oshkosh (about 45 minutes away) for my two-hour sessions,” Sievert continues. “I was a huge time suck for Mark. He wasn’t paid any more for teaching me; I wasn’t even part of his regular class. He was willing to do that.”

Sievert began teaching her first two woodworking classes in the spring of 2018, as well as a dual-credit economics course. She also continued her woodworking education at Fox Valley Tech. “I didn’t start teaching classes until 10:30 a.m. because I was being trained by Mark from 7:30 to 9:30 every morning. Then, in the summer, I was full-time with Mark in June and July learning wood manufacturing. Mark taught me wood manufacturing techniques from proper milling procedures to using the shaper to make cabinet doors.”

Lorge’s generous support for Sievert and her program extended beyond the extensive training he provided. Sievert says she submitted a list of equipment needs for the woods program based on recommendations made by Lorge and fellow FVTC instructor Glenn Koerner that the school board approved to the tune of $50,000. After a new shaper was delivered, Lorge donated nearly half a day of his time to set it up.

“Mark has also shared his curriculum with me, some of which I have adapted to my programs,” Sievert says. “My students have gone on field trips to the Fox Valley Tech wood manufacturing center. He was also instrumental in encouraging me to join the Woodwork Career Alliance.”

Sievert was among the first to become an accredited skill evaluator through the WCA’s online ASE training program that debuted last fall. This past spring, she employed the WCA skill standards to train and evaluate 11 students toward earning their WCA Sawblade certificates.

“The WCA process was good for fine-tuning our curriculum and using the WCA as an industry resource is really helpful,” she says.

Sievert took on tech-ed instruction full-time in the fall of 2018. That’s also when she started taking welding at Fox Valley Tech followed later by metalworking classes.

Seymour High School woodworking students

Seymour High School students proudly display the WCA Sawblade Certificates they earned in Spring 2021.

Seymour’s Tech-Ed Program on the Rise
In addition to winning the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools’ 2021 Prize for Teaching Excellence, Sievert’s dedication to going the extra mile to learn new skill sets was recognized by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce. She received the Excellence in Career and Technical Education Award during an April 29 virtual ceremony.

In nominating Sievert for the award, Laurie Asher, superintendent of Seymour Community School District, noted that the Seymour High tech-ed program has experienced a 52% enrollment increase in the past five years. “Staci has ‘saved’ our technical education program. She took a program that was struggling and made it one of the premier programs in our district.”

The Seymour High tech-ed program is destined to become even stronger. District voters approved a $6.5 million referendum on April 6 by a more than 2-1 margin. The funding will go toward expanding and updating the tech-ed department.

“We’re going to get metals out of the woodshop,” Sievert says with a laugh. “This is going to allow us to have designated spaces for the different types of manufacturing that we teach and each area will be able to expand,” she says.

No Regrets
Does Sievert miss teaching social studies?

“No, I don’t miss it. I did it a long, long time,” Sievert says. “What I like best about teaching tech-ed is the combination of teaching kids, doing projects, and the community connections that the students make with each other that are so necessary and fruitful. It’s very magical for me.”