Governor Visits Trousdale County High School Mechatronics Program
Apr 18 2022
April 7, 2022
By Chandler Inions for Hartsville Vidette
Governor Bill Lee stopped by Trousdale County High School last Wednesday and visited with seniors in multiple career technical education (CTE) courses.
He was visiting schools in the area to get a closer look at what students were learning in those courses.
Mechatronics instructor Chris Woodard said that the opportunity was rewarding for the students.
“The students get first-hand experience meeting with a type of higher management,” Woodard said. “It helps them learn what to expect in this type of environment, or in plain terms, learn how to interact with the big boss.”
Woodard indicated that the governor was interested in what kind of equipment the students were getting to use.
“He spent most of his time with the students rather than with school officials including myself, which I thought was good, because they are the main goal,” Woodard said.
Students in the mechatronics classroom said that it was “pretty cool” to see someone with an engineering degree become governor and that they were glad to be able to share some of what they were learning and working on with him.
“He asked a lot of questions about how much we enjoyed it,” said Joshua Verville, a senior mechatronics student. “He shared some of his experiences, and we shared some of ours in the field.”
In mechatronics, the students learn a series of skill sets needed in the contemporary, advanced automated manufacturing industry. Inside the classroom, they experiment with robotics and microchips.
Senior Garrett Reasonover said that it’s a lot of tampering and figuring it out.
Another mechatronics student, Phillip Zarichansky, described the process like an art form.
“Everyone is going to do it a little bit differently,” Zarichansky said. “What matters is that it works.”
Both Zarichansky and Reasonover plan to attend Tennessee Tech University in the fall. Zarichansky wants to study electrical engineering, while Reasonover intends to study mechanical engineering. Both students said that they plan to have a mechatronic focus in their engineering department.
Verville plans to join the Navy.
Mechatronics wasn’t the only stop on the governor’s itinerary. Students in the nursing course shared some of what they do as well.
https://www.lebanondemocrat.com/hartsville/governor-visits-tchs/article_84823f1d-c0ee-5c2d-93b6-f2ef5c860bcf.html