Photo 1: Whitley York, ATC MHS Senior pre-nursing student
Photo 2: Sam Wortham, ATC junior electrician student
Photo 3: Rachel Franklin, ATC CCHS Senior pre-nursing student
Murray, Ky., March 27-----Dan Hicks, Area Technology Center (ATC) principal, and his staff of seven Carpentry, Auto Tech, Electrical, Pre-Nursing, Culinary, Machine Tool, and Tooling, instructors are providing Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) to their students during the mandated COVID-19 closure by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
NTI is being offered to the 337 ATC Murray and Calloway students through Google Forms, CDX online, Tooling U Online, workbooks, and an online research project for starting a restaurant.
Dan Hicks, ATC director, said the 337 ATC (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior ) students are being contacted by email. “If students do not respond, parents are contacted by email. Phone calls are also being made to students and parents. Students without access to the internet, are being sent home NTI packets.”
Students enrolled in the daily ATC courses gain hands-on-training for each respective subject according to Hicks, NTI is now allowing a much needed opportunity for students to dig deeper inside the online courses and gain the application knowledge required to handle their mandated life skills being taught.
Mitchell McNutt, Auto Technician instructor, said their CDX online program provides multiple lessons on theory. “The theory is more focused and prepares students to understand a situation and answer questions when applying the hands-on work.”
McNutt used the example of how the manufacturing of cars is changing every. “Students need to know how a starter works, and to break down the machine parts inside a vehicle. If not careful, and without the ever-changing knowledge, a one-thousand dollar piece of automotive equipment, can be torn up in half a second. The NTI instruction will require our students to grasp the theory side of applying their skills.”
Cindy Wise, ATC pre-nursing instructor, is also providing NTI instruction to pre-nursing students. “We are reviewing every skill we have learned up to this point, and going through the whole workbook. Students can select their own chapters in the workbook to continue their skills.”
Wise communicates with students through email and phone calls. “The communication I share with students, strengthens and supports their instructional goals, and assists in reviewing our already learned concepts.”
Rachel Franklin, a CCHS senior ATC Pre-Nursing student, said the COVID-19 has not changed her nursing career direction, “I have worked too hard trying to get to my graduation, and I am not letting a virus get in the way of that. “
Franklin said NTI classes are helping push her through these troubling days and teaching her to take every lesson more seriously. “It (NTI), especially my Medicaid Nurse Aide (MNA) class, is keeping me busy through-out the hectic times right now. The emails give me a routine, and honestly keep me sane. It is keeping us up to date with our classes and making sure that we don’t forget all of the things we have worked so hard to remember throughout this year.”
Franklin said the COVID-19 has brought cleanliness into a whole new light for her, and precautions that should have been practiced all along. “Mrs. Wise has always instructed the use of standard precautions, even if what the residents have is ‘not contagious,’. Your resident care should not drastically vary from resident to resident. Covid-19 is teaching people the value of staying clean and healthy,” she said “People are washing their hands more now than ever, stocking up on sanitizers and wipes. We were taught to sing the ABC's twice, happy birthday twice, or even to scrub for 20 seconds.”
Whitley York, an ATC pre-nursing senior MHS student, said the Coronavirus has not changed her opinion of pursuing a healthcare profession. “If anything, this virus is just strengthening my will to become a healthcare worker. The number one reason people go into healthcare is to help people, and that's what I want to do, help. I won't let this keep me from chasing a dream,” she said. “My mother tells me every-day ‘you are strong, you got this, don't let anything stop you from achieving that dream,’ and I refuse to let it.”
York said the NTI instruction has made it difficult to practice their skills, but is the only way to prevent students from falling behind and is the best way to protect everyone. “The virus has changed my outlook, but not in a way I have no will, but it’s strengthening that will to do the classwork to continue my journey in the health field,” she said. “However, as we finish our chapters, we are now doing extra chapters in our workbooks to ensure that information is still fresh on our minds for the state test.
York said at the end of the day, it makes one stronger, and illustrates willpower. “I took this class wanting my State Registered Nurse Assistant (SRNA) certification for work and to get my foot in the door for becoming a nurse. What I wasn’t in store for was, how close my class and I have become during this year. We have all become family. As a community we will all get through this together as a whole, it's just bumps in the road that will slow us down, but we, keep on trucking.”
Sam Wortham, MHS junior electrician student, said the COVID-19 is just a phase, and it will not affect his future career choice. “For classes now, we are completing lessons on toolingu.com, which are moderately difficult lessons,” he said “But, I would much rather be in the work-shop right row.”
Wortham said he is not exactly sure what he will do when graduating next year “Luckily, I still have a year left, but I think I will either go to college and study electrical engineering, or go to a technical school and study to be an electrician. I'm just ready to get back to class.”
Stacy Wortham, Sam’s mother, is very pleased with the instruction being provided by Ron Thompson, ATC electrical instructor. “He sends parent emails as well as student emails to check in with the students and make sure they understand their assignments. He also calls Sam and checks in with him, I’ve been very pleased.”
Members of the ATC staff: Taylor Caldwell, (Machine Tool-- Tooling U-SME: Manufacturing Training Online), Kathleen Holman, (Culinary—Online research project for starting a restaurant), Mitchell McNutt, (Auto Tech--CDX online), Brian Provine, (Carpentry – Google Forms), Ron Thompson,( Electrical-- Tooling U Online), Cindy Wise, (Pre-Nursing—Workbooks), and Chris Rose, Welding-- Tooling U-SME: Manufacturing Training Online.