Sargento prompts schools to look at ‘high tech ed’

July 26, 2019

By Ed Byrne

The Brillion News

Industry 4.0 classes raise bar in industrial arts

HILBERT – High school used to be all about getting top students ready for college. Now there’s also attention being paid to students who want to head right into the job market after high school.

Now the new slogan in education is “college ready, career ready, life ready” – with options besides college getting attention.

Into this picture enters Sargento Foods, the largest employer in the Village of Hilbert.

School Superintendent Tony Sweere said Sargento is the catalyst, working with schools in northern Calumet County and pointing them to a new program designed to help high school students make a successful transition to the workplace.

Sargento approached several area schools about its partnership with LAB Midwest, a Mequon company that works with schools and industry in a variety of initiatives.

One is called Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics; others are Industrial Grade CNC and Robotics, 3D Printing Using Composites and Metal, and Drones and Autonomous Vehicle Technology.

“I would see a couple of these things being introduced into our tech ed area,” Sweere said. “I think it brings more legitimacy to our tech ed area.”

Sweere said Hilbert, Brillion and Stockbridge schools want to work with Sargento on the program; Chilton and Reedsville chose not to participate.

Sweere and incoming Hilbert High School Principal Nathan Wesener went to Mequon to meet with LAB Midwest.

Sweere told the school board that tech ed students would take four classes. All of them teach students about cutting-edge industrial technology.

The program would have students at the participating high schools taking these classes for high school credit, but they would also bring technical college credit.

The program outlines four classes, which Hilbert would add to its curriculum as four one-semester courses.

They are called Industry 4.0 Fundamentals Courses and consist of

• Course 1: Introduction to Mechatronics

• Course 2: Introduction to Industrial Control Systems

• Course 3: Introduction to Industrial Robotics

• Course 4: Introduction to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Please see the complete version of this story in the July 25, 2019 edition of The Brillion News.