An open house event was held at West Branch High School in January to highlight the district’s new industrial maintenance program which offers students hands on training in several trades, and the opportunity to earn Smart Automation Certification Alliance credentials while still in school. Shown is program instructor Chris Dorris. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

BELOIT — The West Branch High School’s new industrial maintenance program will allow students to develop trade skills and earn certifications while still enrolled in school.

“If I had the options for a class like this, I’d have never become a teacher,” joked Instructor Chris Dorris.

Made possible through collaboration with multiple local industrial businesses, the program provides students hands on training in AC/DC electric, electric relay, pneumatics, hydraulics, robotics, cad, cnc, and digital, mig, tig and stick welding. This training is split between two lab spaces for three periods each day, with specialized stations for each discipline that students work at for two-week intervals prior to completing a skills test to prove their knowledge and moving to the next station.

Currently in its first year, Dorris said that starting with currently enrolled juniors the participants in the two-year program will earn Smart Automation Certification Alliance credentials including the Industry 4.0 Associate Certification, itself comprised of 17 micro credentials including: SACA associate-basic operations, electrical systems, electric motor control systems, variable frequency drive systems, motor control troubleshooting, sensor logic systems, electrical system installation, programmable controller systems, programmable controller troubleshooting, pneumatic systems, mechanical power systems, industry 4.0 total productive maintenance management, ethernet communications, smart senor and identification, smart factory systems, robot system operations, and robot systems integration.

Dorris said that not only would these certifications allow students to already have experience and certifications equivalent to an entry level position to bolster their resumes, but it could also reduce the time required for an apprenticeship. Dorris also said that they were working on implementing work release options for seniors to work directly with the district’s business partners gaining practical experience in their fields, and those students that did not find outside apprenticeship’s would apprentice under him, helping to teach incoming juniors.

Dorris said that the growth students had experienced during the course had “been nothing short of incredible,” noting that some of the first-year students had never used hand tools prior to enrolling in the program.