It wasn’t quite “Supermarket Sweep,” but it felt like the home improvement version of the game show last week at the Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center.
TCC instructors picked up approximately 250 items at Lowe’s in Sikeston on Wednesday, Dec. 6, with a $15,000 SkillsUSA Classroom Enhancement/Community Service Grant recently awarded.
The shopping spree, sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement, was secured through a successful proposal written by HVAC/R instructor Dan Parker in an effort to upgrade construction trade classrooms with new equipment.
“It’s department-changing,” stated Parker, who was approved for the maximum amount available of $135,000 total dispersed, confirmed Laura Rauch, SkillsUSA program specialist. Last year, 16 SkillsUSA chapters across America were selected, with only a single school representing Missouri.
Upon learning about the program, Parker took several days to outline his spending plan before receiving word in October that his project was on a shortlist of those chosen. Once he obtained the gift cards, he strategically waited until Black Friday to place his order so he could apply a 20-percent discount.
“It’ll cut our [job] time by half, if not more. We currently have people standing around, waiting on a tool,” Parker explained. He noted how funding via Vocational Enhancement and 50/50 grants under the federal Perkins Act has been reserved for "bigger ticket" items to help build up career and technical education programs.
The instructor spent around $5,000 on power tools alone to enhance his heating and cooling classroom, he reported, including acquiring digital clamp meters, a cordless PEX expansion kit and portable air compressor. Parker additionally purchased multiple hand tool kits and tool backpacks for SkillsUSA competitions, pointing out how he tried to focus on something other than consumables with the one-time funding.
“The industry is evolving rapidly, and simply adding more power tools to the mix would increase the learning capacity a hundredfold,” Parker wrote in an impact report. His classes are presently at capacity, having tripled enrollment since he began teaching during the 2020/21 school year, he continued.
Parker further allocated $4,000 to the building trades program as well as $2,000 for welding, both fields also suggested under the grant initiative. On top of supplies approved for the front office, all the other staff members in the building were able to purchase a needed item such as a ladder or utility mat in the range of a couple of hundred dollars.
“We no longer have to beg, borrow and steal from other programs because we don’t have the tools to get the job done,” said welding instructor Chris Carpenter, who focused on handheld tools such as classroom sets of squares and hammers.
Carpentry instructor Jody Cochran, who accompanied Parker shopping, was able to invest in scaffolding, jobsite boxes and brushless right-angle cordless drills, among other items. He said the hardware will allow his students, who build an entire house by the time they graduate, to set up shop in multiple areas of the structure simultaneously. “Dan was able to play Santa Claus this year,” Cochran commented.
SkillsUSA is a national membership association serving high school, college and middle school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations, and for further education. Lowe’s has partnered with the technical student organization over the Classroom Enhancements grants for the past 17 years.
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Cutline: TCC instructor Dan Parker poses with his HVAC/R students on Thursday, Dec. 7, following a four-hour shopping spree at Lowe’s the previous afternoon.