LAHARPE — Paul Miller let his guests in on a little secret Tuesday.
The mechanics of those giant windmills that dot the landscape aren’t that much different than those of a tractor.
“You’ve got your hydraulics, mechanical systems, gears, motors, electricity,” Miller said. “It’s just here, you’re working at 300 feet.”
Miller, who teaches wind farm technology at the Regional Rural Technical Center, spoke at RRTC’s open house Tuesday, drawing a number of prospective students and district patrons from across the area.
The tech center provides college-level instruction in construction, welding, certified nursing assistant, automotive repair and wind energy programs.
The center will have new offerings for the 2023-24 school year.
The wind energy program, offered by Cloud Community College, will soon be expanded to include solar power systems, Miller noted. Likewise, Neosho County Community College, which offers most of the nursing classes, will offer phlebotomy starting in the fall, instructor Amber Vail said.
The newest program, automotive repair, has quickly become one of the most popular at the tech center, instructor George Shove said, with as many as 20 students already enrolled in the fall.
Students come from across the region, including Iola, Marmaton Valley, Crest, Uniontown, Humboldt, even Ottawa school districts. Yates Center will soon join the list, Shove said.
Students enrolled at RRTC typically go on to other schools to advance their educations, although many receive certification to go straight into the workforce upon graduation.
To wit, the automotive repair students, through their hands-on experience in the garage, also spent extensive time in a computer lab for “virtual” repair projects, including diagnostics, in order to obtain ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) certification, Shove said.
“The goal is to make them hireable,” Shove said. “The ASE certification means they have some basis of knowledge.”
And courses, such as the wind farm technology, offer instruction in a variety of disciplines, Miller said.
A prospective electrician could learn how to read a wiring diagram, for example.
“We cover a lot of stuff in wind,” Miller said. “We cover a lot of stuff in wind. I’m looking at industrial maintenance.”
