GENTRY -- An agreement was signed on Jan. 31 which will allow Gentry High School students who complete a medium- and heavy-duty truck program at the conversion charter school to receive 23 college credits from Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale upon graduation.
The agreement was signed by Terrie Metz, superintendent of Gentry Public Schools, and Blake Robertson, president of NTI. Looking on were Christie Toland, assistant superintendent of Gentry Schools; Brae Harper, Gentry High School Conversion Charter principal; Tyson Sontag, diesel mechanic instructor at Gentry High School; and Carl Desens, instructor and department chair at NTI.
While signing the agreement, Robertson commended the Gentry School District for being progressive in its career education program and for taking the initiative to build a new facility to house its career training programs.
"You have done a wonderful job, as you well know, in being progressive and building this career training facility," Robertson said.
At this time, all of the medium- and heavy-duty truck program classes are being taught by Tyson Sontag.
"With the current number of student requests for this program for the 2018-19 school year, we anticipate that we will have to expand our offerings for next year," said Toland.
According to Toland, students will take diesel brakes, electrical systems, steering and suspension from Sontag, along with technical reading, welding and technical math, to complete the 23-hour program.
In order to be eligible to receive the credit hours, students will need to take the ACCUPLACER test, a college readiness test designed to help colleges place students in appropriate-level classes, prior to enrollment and meet the minimum score requirement set by NTI, Toland explained.
She said the program will begin in August with the start of the 2018-19 school year.
General News on 02/07/2018