Simulating construction groundwork for students
Students may get a chance to simulate driving a Caterpillar excavation vehicle to prepare a construction site.
Nathan Wade, principal at Anderson County Career and Technical Center, gave a presentation about this simulation program at the December Anderson County Operations Committee meeting.
The committee voted to have him discuss it with the Budget Committee, as the county has yet to buy this program.
At the Operations Committee meeting, Commissioner Joshua Anderson made the motion to endorse the project going to the Budget Committee in January, and Commissioner Andy McKamey seconded.
“I think it says a lot to the industries that we’re trying to recruit that we join in with them,” Anderson said. He said the threat of voucher programs pulling funds away from public schools meant that Anderson County Schools needed to figure out ways to be competitive.
Wade said the Caterpillar simulation would be geared toward “upper classmen.” He said he would like eventually to have virtual welding equipment as well.
He said the caterpillar simulation will go in what’s currently the tool room, and the school plans to have a different room serve that purpose.
Funding
The total cost for the package, Wade said is $89,000. Initially he had asked for $60,000 from the County Commission to help with the cost of the program and the curriculum, a combined total cost of $101,000.
However, he said he went back and figured out a different plan.
Under the proposal he gave to the Operations Committee, Anderson County Schools would spend $41,000 out of its usual budget.
Clinton Home Center plans to give $10,000, and another $10,000 might come from the school putting off replacing doors, getting the amount up to $61,000.
Wade said he’s now wanting to ask the commission to contribute $28,273.
Mayor Terry Frank said she supports the project and other career training.
In response to a question by McKamey, however, she said whether the county could provide money to Anderson County Schools and not other school systems within the county depended on which of the county’s funds it came from. She also talked about private companies like UCOR or Consolidated Nuclear Security or the state of Tennessee funding to help the project so it doesn’t use so much county money.
“It needs more of a discussion because there are multiple funding partners,” she said, adding that the county passed a deficit budget last year.
On a similar note, Commissioner Michael Foster said he preferred not to endorse a specific contribution from the county until the Budget Committee discussed the matter, even though he endorsed the program.
The county’s waste management fund includes money that each commissioner individually can earmark to any project that they support, often connected to schools, and Commissioner Phil Yager said he would like to use his funds from the project for the Caterpillar simulator.
The demand
Tennessee College of Applied Technology already has this simulator program, but no high school currently does.
Wade said eventually he wants to work with industry partners to get real pieces of equipment students can use, but the simulator is his priority
He said workers usually need to prepare sites with Caterpillar vehicles or other tools before building in East Tennessee.
“There are very few places where you can just buy a piece of land and you just start building,” Wade said.
“So we would like to look into teaching students to move some dirt around and prep a site and get it to grade so we can actually get something built — so when they graduate they’re a little ahead of the game.”
He said it will help students get jobs, as well as helping the construction industry build homes in Anderson County rather than elsewhere.
Wade also said new developments would lead to additional construction.
He said this might lead to as many as 10,000 skilled jobs including construction, welding, pipe fitting, machining and industrial maintenance.
“I don’t want Anderson County and Anderson County Schools to be on the back burner,” Wade said. “I want us to be a driving force and a leader in that initiative.”
He said the construction program already has union and industry partnerships, as well as two teachers.
The program’s offers for simulators varies between ones that come with curricula and certification, and ones that do not.
