A foggy morning with many area weather delays didn’t stop Veterans and their families from attending Tri-Rivers  “Services For Those Who Served” Veterans Day event, coordinated by the Social Studies Department.

“Veterans arrived early for coffee in the C.C. Bistro before taking tours and visiting labs where services were provided to these individuals who have given so much to their country for our freedom,” said Heather Jenkins, social studies instructor and one of the event coordinators.

The services provided included: lawn mower repair and chainsaw sharpening in Ag & Industrial Power; computer check-ups in the Computer Networking Electronics (CNET); wash and waxing of vehicles in Auto Technologies; portraits in Digital Media & Entertainment; health checks in Healthcare Professionals; haircuts in Cosmetology, pet grooming in Veterinary Science, lunch in Culinary Arts and throughout the building students were creating cards and displays to thank veterans. RAMTEC students (Welding, Engineering, Advanced Machining) designed items paying tribute to Veterans and Construction Technologies built a bench that Veterans had a chance to win.

“Our students and staff were truly humbled to provide these services to area veterans,” said Brent Gentkowski, social studies instructor. “We owe these men and women of the armed forces tremendous gratitude for our freedom.”

“I think we may use our portrait as for our Christmas cards this year,” said Nancy Gaston, wife of Army Veteran Jim Gaston of Prospect. Along with having their portrait taken in Digital Media & Entertainment, the Gastons enjoyed lunch, had their vehicle washed and waxed, and their dog Zoe was groomed by Veterinary Science students.

Tri-Rivers Warehouse Assistant Karen Winders invited her friend and veteran, Bill Graham. “Bill was totally appreciative. He loves coming here. I want to thank our Social Studies Department and all of the students and staff who participated. I know the Veterans I talked to are looking forward to next year.”

Jenkins said with the success of this year’s event, the Social Studies Department plans to create an even bigger and better Services For Those Who Served event for next year’s Veterans Day. “We can never thank our Veterans enough, but we want to try to express our gratitude and never take for granted the sacrifices they have made.”

For more information, contact Ellen Messenger, director of communications for Tri-Rivers,

Tri-Rivers Annual Santa’s Li’l Shoppe is set for December 3, 4 and 5 in Tri-Rivers gym. Proceeds benefit student organizations.

 

 

Tri-Rivers Career Coordinator Bobby Gossom and his student team are currently traveling from school to school, in our district, to tell our story and inform sophomores of career choices at the Career Center.

All of our programs are represented during the tour by current students in each program. “Our TRCC students are doing an awesome job of speaking and sharing their skills. It is so important for the sophomores to be able to talk to our current students so they can ask questions and hear first hand what it is like to be in the program,” said Gossom.

“Our student leaders have been very impressive at the three schools we have already visited—Marion Harding, River Valley and Highland,” said Gossom. “They get into the school quickly, set up their tables and are ready to go. They are getting quite good at the process from start to tear down,” said Gossom.

Tri-Rivers decided to “change up” their visits to sophomores after hearing of the “arena style” set-up from Upper Valley Career Center in Pique and visiting Tolles Tech in Plain City, who adopted this style last year. “We wanted to present an experience that would be less intrusive to our associate schools. In the past we would  spend the entire day talking to English classes about our programs,” explained Ellen Messenger, director of communications. “Now we talk less and let sophomores visit program tables and ask questions directly to our students in those programs.”

At the end of the event, the sophomores fill out a card selecting programs to visit during our Exploring Careers Days December 8 and 9 where the sophomores from area schools will actually get to do hands-on activities in the programs of their choice. Plus, there will be a Career Advising Session.