GACTC Newsletter

Please join us in celebrating the members of the GACTC JOC, who volunteer their time and talent to serve our students, schools and communities. We are grateful for their service! They are:

Altoona Area School District
Christopher Cook
David Francis
David Greenwood
Eric Haugh
Kelly Irwin Adams
Ronald Johnston
Stephanie McGinnis
Frank Meloy
Val Mignogna

Bellwood-Antis School District
Kathy Burch
Hope Ray

Claysburg-Kimmel School District
Richard Gergely

Glendale School District
Theo Sinclair

Hollidaysburg Area School District
Kenneth Snyder
Ronald Sommer

Spring Cove School District
Floyd Deterline
Brian Gahagan

Tyrone Area School District
Jeffrey Long
Gunter Volders

Williamsburg Community School District
Carlee Ranalli

Our CTE Coordinator, Nicole Zernick has won the Judith A. Rossi Educator of the Year award from the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.

"The Judith A. Rossi Educator of the Year Award was created to honor an individual who has had an impact on students, schools or educational systems that also benefit the local business community. The success of Blair County’s current and future workforce is heavily dependent on the ability of organizations like the Blair County Chamber to rally the business and education communities to work together. While there has been well-documented success in that collaborative effort, most of the individual recognition that has taken place has focused on the contributions of business leaders."

Nicole came to the GACTC in 2014 after teaching in the Altoona Area school District for seven years. She started with the GACTC in our Postsecondary division as a Retention and Career Placement Counselor. After about two years in that role, she was promoted to the position of Continuing Education Coordinator. Nicole successfully led the GACTC's post secondary program for two and half years. In February of 2019, she was promoted to the newly created position of CTE Coordinator where she assumed responsibility for many of the core areas that make the GACTC so valuable to our students and the regional business community. In this new role, Nicole's focus has been on ensuring our CTE programs are meeting our industry partners expectations. In just a short time in this position, Nicole has led efforts to maintain our various accreditations, increase the number of certifications available to our students, foster new post secondary articulation agreements, and obtain and manage a number of grants. Additionally, Nicole provides leadership and oversight of our Occupational Advisory Committee's and our Work-Based Learning office.

Congratulations Nicole! This is well deserved and we are so #CTCProud.

The GACTC has received a $50,000 Pennsylvania Department of Education grant to purchase new equipment aligned to training students for jobs in high demand. The GACTC received the maximum grant available through the competitive Career & Technical Education Equipment Grant Program, which recently awarded nearly $1.5 million to 39 CTCs and three school districts across the commonwealth.

“The GACTC is always working to provide real-world training that reflects industry standards,” said Nicole Zernick, CTE Coordinator. “This grant allows us to make critical upgrades that will enhance opportunities for our students, so that they’re even better prepared for careers in today’s workforce.”

Grants must be matched dollar-for-dollar from a local source. The GACTC is matching its grant through its local budget so that a full $100,000 is available for updating equipment.

The GACTC plans to use the funding to purchase new equipment for the Dental Assistant and Welding programs as follows:

Dental Assistant program: The Dental Assistant program has had strong enrollment for the past few years based on our graduates’ ability to obtain employment in the field, and/or continue into the Expanded Function Dental Assistant program. New dental X-ray trainers called DXTTRs will be purchased with grant funding. The most realistic substitute for a patient available, DXTTRs provide unlimited, consistent instruction of all types of intraoral radiography, allowing GACTC students to get a competitive edge as they prepare to sit for the Radiation Health and Safety certification.

Welding: The Welding program continues to maintain high enrollment at the GACTC. A new bandsaw and Pro 4-Pack Welders will be purchased with grant funding, which will allow students to develop welding skills to obtain American Welding Society (AWS) certifications.

Every third Monday of January, the United States observes a holiday to honor the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1994, Congress passed a bill to dedicate the national holiday as a national day of service.

This year, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day falls on January 18, 2022. Instead of a day of service, our GACTC family will show our true support for our community by extending the service for the entire month!

During the month of January, we will be collecting items desperately needed by the Salvation Army in Altoona. These items are given to those who are homeless or in need. We will are collecting the following items, which will be assembled into care packages to be given to the Salvation Army: gloves, socks, soap, travel size toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant and adult sized winter hats.

Scholarships will be available to all GACTC Seniors at the end of January. Updates will be posted on the GACTC website, Work Based Learning page.

• Go to www.gactc.edu

• High School Resources
• Work Based Learning
• Scholarships

On Wednesday, January 12, 2022, seniors came together for a very informative meeting for the upcoming senior events.

Please visit:

• www.gactc.edu
• High School Resources
• Work Based Learning
• Senior Updates

Secondary students at the Greater Altoona Career & Technology Center (GACTC) recently placed in the top eight teams at the National Engineers Week Chain Reaction Contraption Contest at the Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh.

The annual contest is designed to foster an interest in engineering by challenging students to create a machine that will accomplish a specific task in at least 20 steps. In 2021, the task was “turn the page.” Each team submits preliminary design drawings for their contraption (which can be no larger than 2’X3’X5′), project progress photos/videos, and reports to document their contraption’s evolution, then presents their contraptions for judging based on functionality, complexity, and creativity in achieving the task.

More than 30 schools participated in the 2021 competition, which was held on Dec. 10 at the Carnegie Science Center. In addition to placing in the top eight teams, the GACTC team also won “Rookie of the Year” among all the schools participating for the first time.

“Many judges/observers were impressed with our use of electronics and motorized steps,” noted Brian Kelley, GACTC Electro Mechanical Engineering Technology Teacher. “We also used a programmable controller to help run our electronic circuits.”

GACTC students on the team are:
Cameron Brown (Claysburg-Kimmel High School)
Cameron Krause (Altoona Area High School)
Owen McCarville (Homeschooled)
Shane Rachael (Bellwood-Antis High School)
Evan Snelling (Hollidaysburg Area High School)

The National Engineers Week Chain Reaction Contraption Contest is sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Company, and presented in cooperation with the Carnegie Science Center.

Fourteen students at the GACTC won medals in the district SkillsUSA District Competition, which was held on Jan. 19 at the Blair County Convention Center. Some 260 students from 10 career and technology schools across the district took part in the competition.

SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 members every year enrolled in trade, technical, and skilled service training programs across the country.

The GACTC's winning students are:

Kayla Delozier

10th Grade

Altoona

Architectural Drafting

3rd Place

Morgan Newberry

12th Grad

Altoona

Cabinetmaking

1st Place

Garrett Baumgartner

11th Grade

Altoona

Carpentry

1st Place

Brenna Cokrlic

11th Grade

Altoona

Commercial Baking

2nd Place

Matthew Kennedy

12th Grade

Altoona

Culinary Arts

3rd Place

Mia Carper

10th Grade

Altoona

Extemporaneous Speaking

1st Place

Hunter Nagle

12th Grade

BCC

HVAC

2nd Place

Natalie Marketta

11th Grade

Hollidaysburg

Job Interview

1st Place

Kiara Flanagan

11th Grade

Altoona

Job Skill Demonstration A

3rd Place

Bryan Yingling

12th Grade

Altoona

Masonry

2nd Place

Zach McCall

12th Grade

Altoona

Precision Machining

1st Place

Rebekah Dick

10th Grade

Hollidaysburg

Prepared Speech

1st Place

Cheyenne Shoeman

12th Grade

Altoona

Restaurant Service

1st Place

Evan Hollenbach

10th Grade

Hollidaysburg

Technical Drafting

2nd Place

Students who hold leadership positions in SkillsUSA and helped with the competition include: Devyn Amigh, Pennsylvania State Officer, Hollidaysburg; Aly Lee, Pennsylvania State Officer, State College; Daniel Kelley, Courtesy Corps, Altoona.

Local businesses were instrumental in providing locations for some of the competitions. These include Allegheny Truck, Altoona Honda, The Carpenter's Union, and Professionals Auto Body, as well as the GACTC.

All first-place winning students will compete at the state SkillsUSA competition, which is set for Apr. 6-8 in Hershey.

For more information about the GACTC, please call 814-941-TECH or visit GACTC.edu.

The teachers nominated candidates for the second marking period for the WISE program. The categories for nominations are: good work ethic, most improved, community service and excellence.

Our featured students for the second marking period are:

We had our first WISE reward day assembly for the 2021-22 school year. The students were awarded tickets that they exchanged in the cafetorium for a drink, cookie and bag of pretzels. The tickets were given to them for their accomplishments during the second marking period.

Congratulations and keep up the good work. #GACTCPROUD

Our Health Occupations program recently received a brand new Laerdal Nursing Anne manikin! Anne is an interactive simulation manikin which has many features from basic assessments and critical thinking to advanced interventions. The manikin is equipped with heart and lung sounds, bowel sounds, CPR capabilities, realistic vitals, and a functioning bladder. Anne is controlled from a distance by the instructors using a remote touch screen computer. The instructors can manipulate health scenarios to teach the students how to properly react to situations. They can even make Anne cry and talk to the students!

Students from the Health Occupations class are preparing for their upcoming clinical experience at Garvey Manor by learning how to safely feed a resident. The students learned about swallowing disorders and complications, special diets, adaptive equipment and how to implement their care plan to help the resident eat and drink. To help them learn the empathetic side of this skill, they took turns acting as resident with certain disabilities and considerations such as hearing deficits, visual disturbances, and loss of motor skills and sense of feeling in their hands. Special thank you to our Service Occupations class for preparing all of our food for this day!

Health Occupations Seniors took an opportunity to use the “see one, do one, teach one” approach to learning. The students are working on safely transferring a patient from a wheelchair into a bed, and are seen here teaching the skill to their younger peers.

We have the winners of the gingerbread houses in the Baking & Pastry Arts program...

We congratulate Ava and Brenna in the AM class and Savanna and Elizabeth in the PM class. The students won a Sheetz gift card and a box of candy.

Great job girls!

Katrina has worked at the GACTC for 34 years. After she graduated from Shippensburg University in December of 1986, she taught a long-term substituting position at Southern Huntingdon High School from January 1987 to the end of the school year. She started working at the GACTC (Altoona Vo-Tech) in August of 1987.

She taught the Business Information Processing (BIP) program half day and post-secondary Business Secretarial and Medical Secretarial the other half day. The BIP class was for students coming to our school just for their senior year. Katrina has taught many classes here at the CTC. She has taught Administrative Office Specialist program on the secondary and post-secondary levels, the Medical Office Specialist Program, and the Medical Assistant Program. She has also taught inmates at the Loretto Federal Prison through the GACTC and computer classes at Mount Aloysius. This year, she is teaching the Career Awareness course for PM seniors and teaching her Administrative Office Specialist to her AM students. Next year, the Career Awareness class will be offered to both AM and PM seniors.

Katrina has been married to her husband, Kevin since 1993. They have a Cocker Spaniel named Sebastian Bach, named after Johann Sebastain Bach (maybe because she loves to play piano or because she loved Sebastian Bach from Skid Row).

She loves to spend time with family and friends, play the piano and organ, kayak and golf.

Thank you Katrina for your dedication to the GACTC over the past 34 years.

Dave Croft has been employed at the GACTC.

While in high school at Altoona High, he attended the CTC in the Transportation Traffic Management program, known as the Logistics & Supply Chain Management today. He graduated in 1985. Dave took a job in the Altoona High stock room right after graduation and in 1987, he was hired at the CTC in the warehouse as a warehouse clerk.

Dave has been married to his wife, Nancy, for 18 years. He enjoys spending time outside in the summer watching his nephews play baseball. He likes watching the Steelers and Penn State football.

Congratulations Dave on 34 years at the GACTC!

Come visit our Cosmetology's "The Salon" at the GACTC.