Four County Career Center held their annual Retirement Reception and Employee Service Awards honoring staff members for years of service to the school district.

Those recognized for years of service include:

    Five years - David DeLano, Dean of Students; Josh Montgomery, Career Based Intervention Instructor; Taryn Thomas, English Instructor; and Tobi Ziegler, Job Coach.

    Ten years - Denton Blue, Diesel Mechanics Instructor; Kristen Boyer, VOSE; Brandon Brywczynski, Social Studies Instructor; Krissy Cheslock, Special Education Supervisor; Curtis Miller, Building Trades/Carpentry Instructor; Scott Palmer, Adult Education Arrowhead Division; Steven Steingass, Mechanical Systems & Piping Instructor; and Jill Westhoven, Cosmetology Instructor.

    Fifteen years - Kelli Alspaugh, Family & Consumer Science Instructor; and Angela Zetter, Spanish Instructor.

    Twenty years - Mary Jo Beilharz, Medical Office Technologies Instructor; and Tricia Frysinger, Attendance Secretary.

    Twenty-five years - Dean Detmer, Academic Supervisor.

    Forty years - Tony McCord, Career & Technical Education and Attendance Supervisor; and Jena Stites, Administrative Assistant to the Director of Career & Technical Education.

Four County Career Center held their annual Retirement Reception and Employee Service Awards honoring staff members for years of service to the school district.

Words of appreciation were given by Superintendent Jeffrey Slattery and plaques were presented to staff members who retired from the Career Center during the past school year.  Shown above are retirees (LEFT TO RIGHT) Timothy Ricketts, I.T. Academy - Computer Networking & Cybersecurity Instructor (9 years); Jennifer Maassel, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent and Director of Operations (36 years); and Richard Hupe, Director of Operations (36 years).  Retiree Douglas Beck, Director of Adult Workforce Education (13 years) was absent from the photo.

Four hundred forty-five seniors were awarded certificates along with other student achievements and Career Passports marking the end of their career and technical training during Four County Career Center’s 55th Recognition Day Ceremony with over 2,000 parents and guests in attendance and viewing the livestream.

Career and Technical Education Director, Rick Bachman was Presiding Chairman of the ceremonies.  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jenae Kinsman (Archbold) Law Enforcement & Security Tactics, accompanied by military personnel and seniors enlisted in the armed services.  Superintendent, Jeffrey Slattery introduced Board of Education members and congratulated the seniors on their accomplishments.  Samuel Haley (Pettisville (Auto Collision Repair, Dakota Simonis (Fairview) Culinary Arts Management, and Audrey Honeck (Patrick Henry) Fire & Rescue, announced student achievements and activities.  Guest speakers for the Recognition Day Ceremony were senior students Gabriella Rodriguez (Archbold) Cosmetology, Allie Nelson (Hicksville) Early Childhood Education, and Izack Badenhop (Patrick Henry) Business & Financial Services.

Fifty-five students were named Outstanding Seniors for exemplary performance in their career and technical and academic programs and presented with award plaques by their department supervisors.  Awards and scholarship monies of over $422,000 to be used to further students’ education at trade schools, colleges and universities as well as entering the world of work, were recognized during the ceremony.

Four County Career Center is pleased to announce that eight students placed in the top 10 at the 2024 National Leadership Conference of Business Professionals of America (BPA) held in Chicago, Illinois.  Shown with their medals are (FRONT - LEFT TO RIGHT) Kyle Hageman (Archbold) C# Programming and Software Engineering Team; Kaitlin Wood (Archbold) Basic Office Systems and Procedures; Andrew Wiseman (Napoleon) Mobile Application Development; Cory Mavis (Fairview) Software Engineering Team; (BACK - LEFT TO RIGHT) Andrew Mosier (Fairview) Software Engineering Team; Joseph Wymer (Liberty Center) Linux Operating System Fundamentals; Ethan Winger (Fairview) Server Administration Using Microsoft; and Blake Grime (Archbold) Software Engineering Team.

These Career Center students joined over 5,000 other conference delegates from across the nation to participate in national-level business skill competitions.  This was BPA’s 58th National Leadership Conference with the theme “Seize the Opportunity.”

The public is invited to attend the 54th annual Four County Career Center’s Building Trades Open House on May 19 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.  During this past year, 100 high school students at the Career Center have assisted with the construction of the 84th new home as part of their career training. 

Curtis Miller, Carpentry instructor, and the senior Carpentry classes did the general construction of the home including exterior finish, interior, and drywall finish, for Phil Rupp.  It is located at 328 Miller Avenue in Archbold.

The Rupp home is a single story ranch with three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, great room, kitchen, and a full basement along with a two car garage.  The outside of the home is covered in stone and vinyl siding .

Scott Williams, senior Electrical instructor, and his class did the low voltage, data communications, service and finish electrical wiring for the home.  Installation of the water supply, drainage, and inside plumbing was done by the senior Mechanical Systems & Piping class with instructor Steve Steingass.  The Interior Design students and their instructor, Lisa Hall, painted the interior walls and ceilings.

Students at the Career Center build one house each school year.  The home building project is part of the high school curriculum in the Construction Trades programs.