“It’s hard to take some of these big projects home,” Principal Lindsay Miksich said. “It gives the students a way to show off.”

GACTC held its third student showcase event on Thursday night, opening its doors to more than 100 individuals to see the hard work of students.

When walking through the center’s four floors, Miksich said visitors could see the students’ pride in their accomplishments.

Justin Dong shows a robot to his friend and computer programming student Shayne Andrews. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

“A lot of times, this is the first time that families are seeing this, and it’s very impressive,” Assistant Principal Chelsea Gibbons said.

Gibbons mentioned a student who worked on restoring a Mustang with his grandfather, but later brought the project into school to work on. The student’s grandfather was in tears as they worked on it together in the shop during last year’s showcase.

“That’s when you see how much it means to students and the families and the teacher,” she said.

Because the center doesn’t host parent-teacher conferences or required events, she said student showcases also allow families to become familiar with the school and their instructors.

“This is a way (teachers) can come back and keep a connection with the families, because we’re spending two and a half hours a day with your kids for years,” she said. “So there are a lot of nice relationships established here.”

Time for a check-up

Dental hygienist student Destiny Jones was showing her parents, Stephanie and Wayne, how she scans teeth to make impressions. Upon spring graduation, she has plans of becoming a dental hygienist or an orthodontist.

“I love going to the dentist,” Destiny said.

Stephanie Jones knew of her daughter’s dental aspirations, as she said with a laugh, “I’ve never seen anyone who likes the dentist.”

Coming to GACTC allows parents like herself to see what type of hands-on work their children are doing each day.

“I love to see what she’s learning throughout her years here and what she’s going to do with her life after graduation,” Jones said, as her daughter is set to graduate this spring.

Showcases not only allow parents and guardians to see what their children are learning, but they also demonstrate student progress, dental assistant instructor Ashley Dean said.

“Especially in a program like this, the average person goes to the dentist; they know what sitting in the chair is like,” instructional coach Nicky Beauchamp said. “And now they get to walk in and see their child not in the dentist’s chair. Now they’re in the chair working on the teeth.”

Students who show their work can feel a sense of pride, she said.

Building interests

Over in the Electro Mechanical Engineering Technology classroom, student Justin Dong was showing a robot to his friend and computer programming student Shayne Andrews.

Robots were only part of Dong’s learning, as he showed his machine that detects distance. It took him a year to complete due to the coding functionality.

He said it’s important to show his work off to Andrews because if interested, Dong can teach Andrews more about the machine.

“I’d like to see what my friends are doing,” Andrews said. “I want to see what they’re working hard at.”

Opening up showcases to families and friends can also build interest in observers, EMET instructor Thomas Enck said, mentioning a younger brother of a current student who showed interest in the program.

“Anyone walking past can come in and see something interesting, and they want to look in the class and end up taking this class,” Enck said. “We want to get as many kids as we can in the class, grow as much as we can.”

That theory rang true for Altoona Area High School first-year student Ayden Coeck, who is interested in enrolling in the Emergency Services program with his friend, Andrick Carothers.

Coeck said Carothers has been motivated to study EMS since elementary school, so he enjoyed showing his friends and family how to put on firefighting gear Thursday night.

EMS 10th grader Harishree Patel said that if someone understands the method of putting on the gear, it can be seen as easy.

“But if you don’t, it can take hours,” she said.

So Carothers said he was excited to show his skills “because it’s a passion of mine to be able to protect and defend people,” he said.

Carothers’ mother, Nikki, said her son feels a sense of pride and accomplishment when showing off his work. She studied cosmetology at the center 25 years ago.

“So it holds a little bit of value to me to have my son come in here,” she said.

Hands-on experiences

Collision Repair student Lucas Snyder, 16, was excited to show his mother, Heather, what an average day looks like on level one of GACTC, including special looks inside the tool and welding rooms.

An event like this “shows her how much we do, how we learn and the stuff we use,” Lucas said.

According to Heather Snyder, her son has been around race and derby cars his whole life. Lucas’ father used to race with GACTC’s program instructor, which is how he started working on vehicles.

Cosmetology senior student Jaidyn Green was also inspired by her mother to take up the trade. She secured a job at Eclips Salon along Pleasant Valley Boulevard after graduation.

On Thursday evening, Green’s family and friends saw her mannequin head styled with a formal updo to show off her hairstyling talents.

With her work on full display, she said visitors can see what happens inside the center’s walls.

“People don’t necessarily understand what we do in here,” she said. “It’s more of, ‘hey, I did this,’ but they don’t know the meaning behind it, so coming into the school today, they get to see what we’ve done hands-on and see how we can perform outside of school.”

And students can take a sense of responsibility for their work, Beauchamp said.

“Doing projects like this, showcasing their work, being able to tell their parents what they’ve learned, that’s the best way to show that you’ve learned something if you can teach somebody else,” she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.