Small Town Times December Newsletter | Page 2

Hastings Central Community College Field Trip By Kiera Fulmer Litchfield Sophomores ,Sydnee Sweley, Kayden Lucas, Rebecca Mostek, Derrick Linden, Ethan Sohrweid, and Seth Willenberg, took a tour of Hastings Central Community College on October 24 with Guidance Counselor, Mrs. Poland. They toured various program areas of Auto-body, Auto-Mechanics, Diesel Tech- nology, Welding and Advanced Manufacturing labs. They also saw the dorms and what the rooms looked like. All of the students that attended said that they liked going and learning about the College and what it had to offer in the form of programs of study and advanced education. RED Day On October 23 rd , three students from Litchfield attended Rural Education Day (RED) in Kearney sponsored by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Those who attended were seniors Christopher Paitz and John Zimmer, as well as junior Kaleb Rosentreader. The students began the day by going to the Harmon Park Activity Center where they were given a brief over- view of the day, as well as a presentation from Miller and Associates in Kearney about engineering as a profession. From there, they proceeded to go to the Kearney City Wastewater Treatment Plant. They were given a tour of the plant and were able to see all of the processes that the city’s water has to go through to clean it before it is released into the nearby river. They were able to get a look at all the engineering that takes place to make this process possible. Next, the students returned to the Activity Center for lunch and a chance to talk to their peers. After lunch, the students went to Eaton’s. While at Eaton’s, the different schools were split up into smaller groups and rotated through three different presentations. The first presentation that the Litchfield students went to was by the University where they learned about the different engineer- ing programs offered by UNL. They discussed what engineering really was and what it takes to become an engineer, as well as the many possibilities that being an engineer brings to a person. After the presentation by UNL, the students were able to take a brief tour of the Eaton plant where they got to see first-hand how some of the products produced by Eaton’s are made and the engineering that is involved in the making of these products. The last presentation for the day was given by Eaton’s and showed some of the facts about Eaton’s size (growth), their production numbers, and about how safety and the “Eaton family” were important to the company. When asked about the day, Christopher said that it was “very interesting to see how so many machines work together so well” and that “ safety is a very big priority at Eaton.” John Zimmer replied by saying, “I thought it was very educational and I learned a lot about the water waste management in Kearney.” Kaleb Rosentreader made the comments “I learned that the University of Nebraska is the only University that teaches all the engineering programs,” and that “Eaton in Kearney only makes valves and gears.”