EWC Receives Perkins Grant

July 27, 2003

(Torrington, WY) Eastern Wyoming College has been allocated  $88,198.00 from the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education grant to be used for the technical programs for the 2003-2004 school year. This grant, which benefits Veterinary Technology, Welding, Machine Tooling, Farm & Ranch Management, Business Office Technology, Cosmetology, and Computer Networking programs, provides funds for equipment updates, program improvements, and professional development for faculty.

Dee Ludwig, EWC Associate Dean of Instruction and Carl Perkins Grant Coordinator, states, "This grant means a great deal to the technical programs at our college. It helps keep our programs updated with state-of-the-art equipment among other things. One of our most successful endeavors is sponsoring Technology Day every November. For this day, we invite our area high school students in to learn more about technical careers and to experience hands-on sessions relating to these careers."

In addition to the allocated Perkins grant, EWC receives benefits from two other Perkins grants: Tech Prep and Non-Traditional. The non-traditional grants can
benefit a total of ten men or women in gender unequal fields of study, such as welding or computer networking for women and veterinary technology, business office technology or cosmetology for men. The non-traditional grant funds ten scholarships that cover tuition, fees and book support. Scholarship applications are available from Terri Hauf in EWC's Financial Aid Office.

The Tech Prep grant, coordinated by EWC's Maureen Reichert, helps fund the efforts of the Technology Trades Consortium that helps connect high school classes
with post-secondary programs in welding and machine tooling. This grant provides equipment and professional development opportunities for high school programs as well as Eastern Wyoming College. The following high schools: Natrona County, Douglas, Wheatland, Moorcroft, Hulett, and Torrington, all requested equipment purchases such as band saws, testers, benders, pedestal ring rollers, and welders.

This year the grant will continue to support the annual Technology Day scheduled for November 6, 2003. Also, the Tech Prep Coordinator, Maureen Reichert, will attend the National Tech Prep Conference with the topic "Partnering Workforce Investment
Movement" in Nashville, Tennessee in October.