A Hands-On Experience

OCHS students take classes at Flint Hills Tech

Article by Hannah Mondragon

Osage City High School students now have the opportunity to take classes at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia during the school day in order to get technical training for potential future jobs. This year, six boys were ready to get the hands-on expertise they needed.

The schedule at Flint Hills Tech is quite different than here at the high school.  For example, instead of having blocks, they have a scheduled class for about an hour and a half, followed by a 15 minute break before their next course. Then they get to go to the shop and work on customers’ cars until it is time to come back to Osage City for their regular classes.

Junior Colton Tyler was asked about why he took the opportunity to go to Flint Hills Tech and he replied, “Because it’s what I want to do when I’m out of school, it’s close to the school (OCHS), I get to get out of my other classes here, and I’m making a lot of new friends, including the instructors. It’s all hands-on and it’s close to home.” Tyler is loving this experience that is going to help him in the future when he is out of school.

Each student can choose what area he would like to study.  Four of the OCHS students are involved in automotive work and one is studying welding.  When junior Quinn Boyce was asked about the classes he was taking, he replied, “I’m doing automotive and I’m also taking an electrical class.” In addition to taking classes, the Flint Hills Tech students have the opportunity to work on customers’ cars that are brought into the shop at the tech school in Emporia. Instructors wait there with them to answer any questions that they might have.  And that’s not the only thing that the students can do to gain hands-on expertise.

“Instead of just working on customers’ cars, we also have the chance to do our own projects. It’s a very independent, hands-on experience,” says Boyce.  Boyce says of doing his own projects, “Well, I took my mom’s car up there and fixed it for her, and I just got Austin’s car fixed for him.” So it’s apparent that being given the chance to take classes at Flint Hills Tech has benefited Boyce, as it will the rest of the students from OCHS.

The five boys going to Flint Hills Tech are having a great time gaining hands-on experience for when they get out of school.  They are being given the chance to step out on a limb and try something new while still in high school, and they will surely benefit greatly from this opportunity.

Above-Five of the six Flint Hills Tech students pose for a group picture: Senior Hawk Goad, senior Austin Stromgren, junior Quinn Boyce, senior CJ Holmberg, and junior Gunner Horn. Junior Colton Tyler was absent.