ICTC IS FULL OF ACTIVITY

(November 5, 2010)...At the Indiana County Technology Center (ICTC) our school year has gotten off to a eventful start.  On September 10th the afternoon students at the ICTC were able to enjoy an inspirational assembly with Jon Pritikin.  Mr. Pritikin was able to speak at the ICTC thanks to the National Character Education Foundation and the offices of Senator Don White, Representative Dave Reed and District Attorney Tom Bianco.  Mr. Pritikin has spoken to and inspired three million students around the world, as well as numerous professional sports teams.  On July 11, 2007 outside of London, England, Jon broke and set two Guinness World Records.  The official record title that landed his picture in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records is “the tightest circumference of two aluminum frying pans rolled together with his bare hands in less than 30 seconds.”  Mr. Pritikin demonstrated this technique to the students at the ICTC as well as breaking a wooden baseball bat over his knee, tearing a four inch telephone book in half with his bare hands, just to name a few.  Mr. Pritikin then got really serious with the students and spoke to them about bullying.  He made the crowd silent with his story.  Once crowd member, Cory McAfoos, a senior in the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning program area said, “it was really inspirational.  Everything that he went through in his life, all of the challenges he faced and everything the kids and teachers did and said to him, it all opened my eyes.”

The ICTC held another assembly on October 15th.  This assembly was more of a “challenge” for the students.  Presenters from “The Challenge Program” came to the ICTC to make the students aware of their program and its benefits.  Students are challenged to perform better in school, to be the best at everything.  The reward is $250.00.  Students have the opportunity to earn $250.00 at the end of the school year for perfect attendance, most improved, highest GPA, and community service.  Awards are given in each category to students in 10th, 11th and 12th grade.  For a teenager, $250.00 is a lot of money so I asked students, “what would you buy with the money?”  Timothy Vatter, a junior in Carpentry from Saltsburg said, “I would put the money in a savings account for college.”  He also stated, “the challenge program pushed me to set high goals and do better in school.” 

In other activities, on Wednesday, October 13th the Health Occupations Technology program area teamed up with the American Red Cross to hold its annual blood drive at the ICTC.  An astounding 45 pints of blood were donated.

Many of our program areas give their students real life encounters by taking them on industry related field trips.  The Digital Media Technology (DMT) and Graphics and Electronic Media (GEM) students enjoyed a tour of ONC Park on September 24th.  The students were able to tour the entire park including the press box, batting cages, dugouts, locker room, and most importantly their media room where graphics and videos for the jumbotron are created.  One of the participants, Kudzi Mukusa a tenth grader in DMT from Indiana High School said, “the field trip was very cool.  I was able to take stock photos and videos to use for a poster that I am working on for PNC Park.  My favorite part though was having lunch at Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36.”

On October 14th, the Collision Repair Technology (CRT) students took a field trip to Smail’s Collision Center in Greensburg, PA.  The field trip allowed the students to view Smail’s state-of-the-art collision center.  Kelsey Jones a junior in CRT from United High School stated, “the trip was fun, the most interesting part was the hands-on experiences.”  Kelsey wishes to one day have her own auto body business.

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