Parkers Prairie School in Minnesota received an NFPA grant to assist with the costs of bringing two teams of students to the Fluid Power Challenge hosted by Alexandria Technical College and sponsored by member, FORCE America. The school used the grant to help cover costs for a substitute teacher, registration costs to take part in the Challenge, and bus transportation.
Whenever I write an article about all the benefits of NFPA Workforce programs, I report on all the good things that I see at these events, and there are a lot. But this time, I am going to let you hear from the teacher, students and NFPA host – because what they said about their experience is much better than any summary I could give.
Jon Oestreich, the teacher who applied for the grant, saw his students grow because of the Challenge. He said, “This experience allowed students to gain knowledge in an area that they had previously had no exposure to. It was great to see their teamwork and problem solving skills develop as they worked the Challenge together.”
Students who took part in the Challenge said —
“I loved it, it was a learning experience and I am thinking of that kind of career in the future…I had a blast and hope to find out new info about it.”
“I think the fluid power challenge was a good experience from trying something, failing and learning.”
“It was a great learning experience that I think a lot of students should participate in. It was fun building it with friends and going to the competition.”
In summary, Jon said, “Overall, it was a great experience for the students. I am considering working this challenge into my curriculum so that all 8th grade students participate and can gain exposure and knowledge of fluid power.”
But teachers and students aren’t the only ones seeing value in the Fluid Power Challenge and the grants that can make it happen. John Stenz, President of FORCE America, had this to say about the value of the Fluid Power Challenge to NFPA member companies:
[youtube id=”QLx7cSIajsU” width=”620″ height=”360″]
I couldn’t have said it better.
If you would like to help bring more of these grants to schools by making a donation, please contact me at lbeyer@nfpa.com or 414-778-3364.
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