Pasco-Hernando State College Volume XIII, Issue II Fall 2019

JACK PLANT FACULTY PROFILE DRAFTING AND DESIGN PROFESSOR TRAINED TO P rofessor Jack Plant’s LinkedIn bio reads: Experienced Professor with a demonstrated history and national award winner for working in the higher education industry. Skilled in e-learning, student recruiting, program evaluation, editing, and career counseling. Strong military education. But, that’s just a glimpse into the man who is passionate about helping students succeed. Jack Plant was born in Huntington, W. Va., along the Ohio River. He remembers being a small boy and having a victory garden during World War II and moving to Florida at age 11. Plant graduated from Lakeland High School and then earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida Southern College and a master’s degree from the University of South Florida. At Florida Southern College, he was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and commissioned as an officer the day after graduation. Plant is now a retired U.S. Army Colonel having served as a Green Beret in Special Forces. In a 38-year military career, a man experiences a lot and Plant reflects back that he’s “been shot at on five continents.” Jack Plant during his last military duty assignment when he was “The Military Theater Team Chief” for Special Operations Command South in the Republic of Panama. Retiring from the military was not nearly the end of Plant’s journey. He taught in four high schools and four community colleges, before being hired at PHSC in 2005. He is now a drafting and design professor having worked to build and continually enhance the program at the College. Plant’s passion for helping students succeed is evident in his teaching philosophies. He wants to best prepare his students to be workforce ready and uses real-world work in class projects. The Drafting and Design lab is filled with Jack Plant helping students with end of term projects in the drafting and design classroom. 18 PHSC Perspective SERVE blueprints and project models—from houses, the required class project, to an art deco doorway, a medical prosthetic hand and airplane models—depending on the student’s area of interest. Plant embraces having a variety of students in his classes—from dual-enrollment students to those already in the industry who seek additional skills or a degree for advancement. With that mixture also comes diverse needs and goals. Plant encourages his students pursue their passion when selecting a final project. According to Plant, “In order to prepare students for the work world, they need to do real-world work in the classroom.” He accepts this challenge and from experience and input from local industry, Plant strives to make the student learning experience one that will prepare students and help them transition to industry employment or transfer into university programs. Ten years ago, Plant was instrumental in the acquisition of a 3-D printer, a prototype machine that creates a physical model from digital data. The printer aided student learning by producing concept models from objects students designed in AutoCAD software. Since then, the lab has evolved with more 3-D printers added and a variety of architectural and design software programs installed, including Chief Architect, Solidworks and CATIA. “Local industry use these programs, and so students need these programs to be competitive and prepared to seamlessly transition into the workforce,” said Plant. If the College didn’t have the software program that was needed, Plant lobbied to attain the software and integrate it into the curriculum. Plant not only goes above and beyond to help his students, he is always going—teaching year round, including summers. Plant shares that he has Parkinson’s disease, a progressive nervous system disorder affecting movement. He says that although he has Parkinson’s, it doesn’t have him. Four times a week he boxes as a way to fight back against the disease. The workout focuses on balance, agility and hand-eye coordination. He says he will continue teaching, as long as he is free of pain and vertical. And, his students are most appreciative, including Meclina Priestley, who found a way to incorporate her passion for art into her studies in the Drafting and Design program. Read Priestley’s story on the next page.

Pasco-Hernando State College Volume XIII, Issue II Fall 2019 | Page 18