‘This is high school?!’

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

Taking a tour of the CTE (Career Technical Education) classes at Rim of the World High School is an eye-opening experience for anyone who has not previously visited these classrooms.

On Oct. 21, members of the Rim of the World Educational Foundation board took such a tour with Stephanie Phillips, the CTE coordinator. They were joined by Alfonso Gonzalez Arias from Burrtec, which has been a major donor to Rim Ed and the programs they support.

In the TV-Video Production class, students were hard at work creating music videos. Freshman Jayden explained they each chose a song by a favorite artist and then put the song to clips they took with the school’s camcorders. His enthusiasm for the project was a joy to see. One Rim Ed board member noted that it was “so cool to see the motivation.”

The Fire Technology class was outdoors, learning how to raise and lower extension ladders. Each student was sporting a fire helmet. Phillips noted that the ladders and all the helmets were purchased through grants and donations.

Brian Leidner teachers the Fire Technology, Emergency Medical Responder and Medical Core classes. When we went into the EMR training center, Arias exclaimed, “This is high school?!”

Phillips explained that she and Leidner had visited Moreno Valley College where they saw their ambulance simulator and hospital bed set-up. “Brian and I said that we want to do that,” Phillips said. And so she wrote a grant to get the needed materials.

Firefighters train at a facility in Victorville to become paramedics, Phillips said. “They come here and practice,” she noted. “They train with the Rim students.” And they aren’t the only ones. Phillips added that students from Victor Valley College come to Rim to train “because this equipment is better than what they have.”

Next door to the medical simulation room are the driving simulators. Recently, Phillips said, members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department came to Rim with members of the Riverside Office of Education to check out the simulators. “They are getting them for the jail so inmates can train on them and get certified to drive big rigs,” Phillips said.

Teacher Brian Leidner guided the Construction Trades students through the building of birdhouses.

She said she had done a great deal of research before finding these simulators. “I didn’t want something that sat on a table like a video game. I wanted something more realistic,” she said.

Burrtec has been to Rim to test the simulators as has Anthem Services. “They asked the students if they would let them drive. It was a challenge to get them off the simulators and go on the rest of the tour,” Phillips said.

Virage, the simulator manufacturer, will call Phillips and say someone else wants to see them. A representative flies out from Florida, Phillips said, “and uses our high school site to sell his product. I like when industry comes to us – our students and the district see that.”

Phillips recalled a student who went into the military after having “driven” on the simulator. “He said it prepared him, made him feel comfortable knowing he would be driving all sorts of vehicles. He said it gave him a sense of security.”

Several real-life big rig drivers have used the simulators and commented on how realistic they are.

Jared Cobb teaches both the Welding Technology class and Construction Trades. In Welding, students were working on a 1968 Jeep. Cobb said they will build a roll cage and do body and suspension work.

They also have a simulator in the welding shop, which allows beginning students to perfect their skills prior to working with real materials.

Phillips said they take the welding students to trade shows and industry sites.

In Construction Trades, the students were starting to make birdhouses. Cobb displayed a graphic of the CAD (computer-aided design), demonstrating how vital math skills are for building anything.

Travis Miller has taken over the Automotive Technology classes. He admitted that school had meant nothing to him but auto shop was why he went to school. “When I told people down the hill I was taking over auto shop, they were amazed we still have auto shop and welding. I just had to step in and keep things going.”

The students are learning how to do some repair work. They were working on a truck that belongs to the school; it had sat dormant for so long, the engine seized up. “The students are doing all the work,” Miller said, adding he was just supervising.

He enjoys off-roading and hopes to get his students involved. “They are learning and having fun,” Miller said.

He also teaches two periods of welding. “We use a lot of that as a tool in both classes,” he said.

Our final stop was Graphic Design, taught by Rob Wilson. The previous week the students had created their own Angry Bird. This week they were learning vector design by creating their own Angry Bird style level, Wilson said.

Vector design uses mathematical formulas, paths and anchor points to create graphics that scale infinitely without losing quality.

Over the course of the class, students learn desktop publishing, production and application (sample projects include screen printing, 3D printing, posters and engraving), photo editing and image creation.

Wilson noted that the high school students are now doing things he didn’t see until he was in college.

Both Cobb and Miller are new to the CTE classes, replacing teachers who retired. “We are so fortunate to have Rim grads step in when the welding and auto shop teachers retired,” Phillips said.

As the tour ended, all participants – even those who had taken the tour before – expressed their astonishment at the opportunities available to Rim High students.