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MANUFACTURING TODAY WI | FALL 2025 7

New Technology Education Center in Progress at Shiocton

Shiocton School District the equipment and facilities will meet the partners have requested
In April of 2025, the voters of Shioc- needs of the district for years to come. that we work with them
ton School District approved a capital The new center will increase acces- to align our methods with
referendum of which a major component sibility for students and provide dynamic them and the college to
is to renovate and build a new Technology space for practical and hands-on learning send a consistent message.
Education center. with cutting-edge, industry-standard equip- This is a steppingstone
This referendum includes expanding ment, which is key to the success of this towards our students
the high school’s technology education project. becoming proficient at
space to support on-going needs in project- As our manufacturing and construction welding. The future plan
based courses. The expansion will more program begins to integrate new equip- is to begin teaching the
than double the current size of the manu- ment and technology into our programs, college’s Gas Metal Arc
facturing area, providing updated space additional curricula will be incorporated Welding I (GMAWI) cur-
for students to work and learn. The new into our courses. Our metals courses will riculum in our Metals III
construction includes additions to the have mandatory tasks that require them to class. Currently, we do
woods, manufacturing, and automotive demonstrate proficiency in several areas. not have the equipment
labs, firewall construction, fire protection, Our business partners, along with the local to meet the requirements
plumbing, HVAC, and electrical improve- technical college, have repeatedly stated of this course but upon
ments. that pulse welding is the future of manufac- completion of the new
The manufacturing addition and con- turing due to the rapid deposition rates that Technology Education
struction remodel, more than one third of are required from the process. We are cur- center it should be reach-
the overall project, will house the equip- rently working with the instructors at the able.
ment provided by the Fast Forward grant college to learn the curriculum and begin to The school and
and includes the mechanicals to make sure apply it in real applications. Our business program will finally have

the proper facilities and equipment con-
figuration to educate the students well
into the future. New welders, worktables,
and welding booths are a big piece of the
matching funds coming from the grant.
The awarded grant money will be used
to introduce a new mill and lathe into
the program. The Track vertical mill is a
step forward in the machining world that
brings our school closer to CNC machin-
ing with a new mill that the college has
piloted and is using in a move towards
automated machining. Students will be
able to perform conversational machining
on the mill while being able to perform
manual machining as well. The new Claus-
ing lathe is a next generation lathe that
has expands our current equipment with
several new features. The infinitely vari-
able speed control is something that makes
it a desirable piece of equipment. Without
this grant, this equipment would not have
been possible to purchase for the students
in Shiocton.

shiocton.k12.wi.us