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March 24, 2025
OSHKOSH – The Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at Oshkosh West and Oshkosh North high schools recently reaped the benefits of a $10,000 donation from Regal Rexnord to the Oshkosh Area School District’s (OASD) Education Foundation for equipment purchases.
“Each year, Regal Rexnord’s Foundation supports the community through various ways of charitable giving,” Shauna Meyers, Regal Rexnord’s communications manager, said. “This year, our Oshkosh facility, that is a part of our Conveyance Solutions division, wanted to support something meaningful in their community, which is why we were so passionate about helping the Oshkosh (Area) School District.”
Meyers said the money donated was used to purchase two new laser drill presses – one for each school – which replaced “very antiquated, 50-year-old equipment.”
Vicki Porior, OASD’s career and technical education curriculum coordinator, said having updated equipment gives students the much-needed benefit of hands-on experience with industry-standard equipment – something extremely important for their post-high school career plans, no matter what they may be.
“Having new equipment gives our students an opportunity to work on the equipment they’ll be working on if they go right into the workforce after graduation, or even if they go into a Fox Valley Technical College course after high school,” she said.
Porior said between the two schools, some 435 students are enrolled in construction, manufacturing and automotive courses and will use and be served by this equipment.
“That’s a huge impact,” she said.
It’s official
Porior said the equipment was installed at the high schools in early February and was officially celebrated with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting held Feb. 20 at Oshkosh North.
During the event, she said students demonstrated how to use the new equipment.
Porior said district faculty and staff and representatives from Regal Rexnord were able to see first-hand the stark contrast between the old equipment replaced by the new drill presses, and also see the 50-year-old equipment still in use in the career and technology labs.
“When you think of manufacturing, you may not think of technology, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Meyers said. “Automation and improvements in manufacturing machinery (are key drivers) to ensure we are working in a safe environment that is also sustainable.”
Meyers said manufacturing technology can change just as fast as any other technology.
“It is constantly improving, evolving and changing, and it’s important to get these students introduced to new equipment, and also get them excited about diverse careers in manufacturing,” she said.
Meyers also said that manufacturing is not just about putting something together – it’s about problem-solving, and problem-solving quickly.
“Having access to newer equipment will more closely align these students with what they will see after graduation if they choose to work in construction, manufacturing or the automotive industry,” she said. “It’s about finding new solutions, and having a fresh set of eyes when you go into the workplace to make improvements to the manufacturing process to improve safety and sustainability.”
Porior said a fundraiser held last year for CTE programs within the district successfully raised approximately $100,000 in both individual and corporate donations.
“The Regal Rexnord donation was just layered on top of that,” she said.
In addition, Porior said she has successfully secured various grants for the district’s CTE programs.
“Technology and engineering education requires very expensive equipment, as you can imagine,” she said. “Each year we work on another grant or donation to cycle through the equipment that needs to be updated.”
Porior said the OASD has been “pretty successful” with grants to be able to get new CNC machines and has also updated its 3-D printers and other printing machines for the graphic arts and designs.
She said the district also updated its panel saws, planers, welding booths and tool cabinets.
Despite these successes, Porior said there is still more equipment that needs to be replaced, most of which is decades old.
The district, she said, will continue to replace that equipment, bit by bit, as it’s financially able.
Other needs of the CTE programs
Porior said the district’s needs don’t just start and stop with equipment, however.
Having updated facilities at both high schools, she said, is of tremendous importance, as they are not only as old – and in some cases older – than the equipment they hold.
As equipment is updated, Porior said the facilities must be updated as well in order to be able to accommodate that new equipment.
“If someone were to donate $2 million in equipment to us, that would be awesome,” she said. “But we would need to make sure that our facilities’ infrastructure could handle the equipment.”
Porior said those infrastructure needs would include ductwork, electrical and having enough space to have the necessary and proper safety zone – just to name a few.
“Updating the facilities, at Oshkosh West in particular, is not addressed in the current referendum (being put to voters on this April’s ballot),” she said, “but I understand it will be addressed in the next referendum, should this one pass.”
Porior said if this April’s referendum does not pass, updating facilities will be addressed at some point in the future.
“But, I’m not exactly sure when,” she said.
Porior said there are two other needs the district has – things that money can’t buy, but which are equally as important as those things money can buy.
One of those – and a priority for the CTE programs – she said is to engage with their community and business partners to gain their participation on advisory boards.
“In the last two months, we have held advisory board meetings with technology and engineering (and other) partners, seeking their input on how to keep our curriculum current and relevant,” she said. “We’re classroom teachers – we’re not practicing in a manufacturing environment, for example. So, we (heavily) rely on our business partners in the form of advisory board members to help guide our curriculum revisions.”
Finally, Porior said the CTE program must have business partners who are willing to place students in certified, work-based learning opportunities.
“Our mission is to prepare our students for their hopes and dreams after high school graduation,” she said. “For some, that is entering into the workforce; for some, it’s attending a two-year school; and for some, it’s attending a four-year school.”
Porior said if their task as educators is to prepare OASD students for the next level – “then we need to be working with the people who are at that next level, whether they be business partners or representatives from two-year and four-year (schools).”
“We have the classroom portion of our responsibility to students handled,” she said. “But then to provide them with guided internships and youth apprenticeships while they’re still in high school, is really important. We’re very fortunate and grateful for those business partners that hire our students as seniors to get them that guided practice to be able to apply their skills on the job before they graduate high school.”
The district’s job, Porior said, is not to get kids to graduate – “our job is to launch them into their hopes and dreams.”
“So, we need to be partnering with those post-secondary placements so that we can make sure our kids are ready,” she said.
Porior said it is the responsibility of Theresa Duren, director of the OASD Education Foundation, to manage all of the various donations from outside of the district, and to ensure that the donations get into the right hands within the district.
“Theresa is very connected and reaches out to our business community when there are needs,” she said. “She has taken the time to intimately understand the needs of career technical education in our school district. Because she understands those needs, she is a great advocate when it comes to connecting businesses to our teachers. She really was the conduit of this donation through her relationship with Regal Rexnord. We’ve been super fortunate to have Theresa assisting us with equipment donations.”
Commitment to community
Meyers said one of Regal Rexnord’s core values is responsibility – that means being responsible to safety, sustainability and the various communities in which its associates live, work and play.
Part of that responsibility, she said, is to help make sure kids are ready for the next stage of their lives after high school – hence, the $10,000 donation.
Meyers said giving back to the community where they live and work is very important to Regal Rexnord associates.
“We have all been personally touched by the school district, whether it’s a family member or even those of us who grew up here attending school in Oshkosh,” she said. “While it’s exciting to give back, this is also about preparing these students to be our next generation of manufacturing talent.”
Porior said if she could wave a magic wand over the programs she manages, she said she would wish for updated technology and engineering labs – “our auto labs, construction labs and machining and welding labs.”
“I would update all of those facilities,” she said.
Though Porior said she has no sense of what that would equate to in dollars and cents, that would be her dream.
“As career and technical education professionals, we know that we can’t do it alone,” she said. “We can’t prepare students for their launch into their post-high school world without the expertise of our business and industry partners. So, we really value those relationships and partnerships and we appreciate everything they do for us and the kiddos we’re preparing for post-high school.”
