STEM, creativity hallmarks of new CVTC program

23 Feb 2018


Trent Fransway of Chippewa Falls found a familiar face when he started classes in Chippewa Valley Technical College’s new Mechanical Design program at the start of the fall 2017 semester. Dr. Tim Walter, a retired physician and advisor to a robotics club that Fransway was a member of at Chippewa Falls Middle School, was enrolled in the program as well.

Fransway, a 2017 Chi-Hi graduate, likes familiar surroundings — and he likes to tinker.

“As a kid, I liked to take things apart and put them back together — a lot of stuff, from remote-control cars to lawnmowers,” he said. “I want to find a job around here so I can stay around my hometown. There is a lot of opportunity around here in Mechanical Design.”

Fellow CVTC student Noah Edlin, a 2015 Boyceville High School graduate, tells a similar story of his interests. “As a kid, I loved robots,” he said.

Employer demand for workers is the reason CVTC re-started the program in the fall 2017 semester after it had been dropped several years ago.

Continue to full article