Big Tech Upgrades Among Changes at Cedar Grove

One would normally expect hallways of a school to be pretty quiet during summer, but in Cedar Grove it’s been anything but quiet. Crews have been racing against time to complete revisions and upgrades to the entire campus that houses the Cedar Grove-Belgium Elementary, Middle and High Schools. New playground equipment has been installed, parking lots torn up, rebuilt, and traffic patterns revised in advance of opening on Thursday for the first day of the new year. But some of that work began even before the last school year was done, and big changes will be seen by many outright. But other changes are as much about the approach to education as they are about the physical place it takes place, and the changing landscape of high technology is the driver. WHBL News spoke with Superintendent Chris Brakke earlier this summer to find out about those changes.

………Grants Driving Growth……….

The Cedar Grove-Belgium School District has been a recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, most of them with matching requirements, and Brakke explained that nearly all the grants are geared towards establishing the district as a hub for technical education and training. Among those grants are an $800,000 grant from the State of Wisconsin to open the Rocket Academy Dual Credit Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Charter School, or RADCAM TEC for short, a charter school that will train students in CNC Machining, Industrial Maintenance, HVAC Technicians and Welding.

That grant was followed by one written by Lakeshore Technical College from the National Science Foundation. The fourth – and largest – such grant in four years from the NSF makes $650,000 available for RADCAM TEC that puts LTC staff on-campus in Cedar Grove several times a week, solving one issue that was standing in the way of a fully-operational program: dual-certification of existing Cedar Grove-Belgium staff. With certified instructors from LTC on-site, students will be able to finish their tech degrees start-to-finish while attending Cedar Grove-Belgium schools.

Other grants received by the district include a “Fab Lab” grant of $25,000 to be matched by district funds. The money came from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and was made available through the State of Wisconsin. It will help equip RADCAM TEC with some of the needed tools used in training. Another $50,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development will be matched at 200% by the district to purchase and install a Haas ST-10 CNC Lathe, a machine used in automated fabrication, and which will give students the real-world manufacturing experience needed to be fully-trained.

All these changes required additions and a renovation of the existing Cedar Grove-Belgium High School. Brakke explained that a food preparation area was moved across the hallway while its former space was converted to be part of the new tech-ed portion on the western extent of the building. Construction on the new tech-ed facility began before the last school year was done, and continued in earnest over the summer months along with renovations and improvements to the rest of the district’s buildings.

Renovations Underway Earlier This Summer as a Food Service Area is Converted to Part of the Rocket Academy’s High-Tech Installation. Photo by Kevin Zimmermann

During this inaugural year, Brakke said that the Rocket Academy enrollment was capped at a “manageable” 16 students, 13 of which were already enrolled by this past May. Nothing but growth in the program is seen in the future, which will mean more students, and likely an eventual separate facility. An old church building adjacent to the schools was purchased as a possible part of that expansion, and its viability is being studied now.

……….Looking Towards the Future……….

One mission of schools is to prepare students for the future and to do that properly, the demands of that future time need to be explored. Braake noted the industrial growth taking place along the I-43 corridors of Oostburg and Belgium as examples of the kind of growth now seen in our area that will be needing qualified workers. He said that the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District is responding to that likely demand with the expansions. He noted that even before the Rocket Academy’s founding, some students were already serving as apprentices to maintain the current school campus. High-tech maintenance is a field already in need of workers, and 35% of all youth apprenticeships in Wisconsin now live in Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties. RADCAM TEC will serve a key role in making sure those apprentices are fully trained, and that the industries of the area have qualified workforces.

Another key factor driving the formation of the Rocket Academy is the need to make such training available to disadvantaged and minority students, including women and individuals from low-income backgrounds. Its presence works in harmony with the push to get more girls interested in STEAM curricula, and opens opportunities for them in traditionally male-dominated professions.

Cedar Grove-Belgium is by no means the first district to make large investments in tech education. Brakke said that the Plymouth Comprehensive High School serves as a model for many districts establishing their own tech sections. But whereas Plymouth students get their start at the high school level in preparation for additional training after graduation, Rocket Academy students graduate with their degrees, freeing them to either enter the workforce right away, or pursue additional credits at LTC or other schools.

Either way, the new changes accomplished over the summer at the Cedar Grove-Belgium schools all make a different future possible for hundreds of students, whether they’re still young enough to be focusing on using the new playground equipment at the elementary school, or in high school and ready to take on the tech industry through Rocket Academy.

New Playground Equipment is Seen at the Cedar Grove-Belgium Schools, One Part of Many Summer Renovations on the Campus. Photo by Kevin Zimmermann