A Different Sort of School

If Brian Wise pulled up beside you at a stop sign on his custom Harley, you would probably lock your doors and stare straight ahead for fear you might provoke him. With his Fu Man Chu moustache and tattooed arms, he looks more like someone you might see at Biker Night at Russo's Pizza, rather than someone you would trust your children with.

In the coming week, if you were to follow Brian on that Harley, you might be surprised where it would take you. Brian is a school teacher. To be specific, he is the welding instructor at the Herndon Career Center of the Raytown Quality School District.

Although operated out of the Raytown Quality School District, a majority of Herndon's student are from the Lee's Summit R-7 District.

Brian and his colleagues prepare students to work in several trades ranging from welding to child care; culinary to cosmetology. At one time, when a student was encouraged to attend the "Vo Tech" school, it was a nice way of saying that he couldn't cut it in the classroom. Those days are long past, and never were relevant.

Wise runs his class much like a machine shop. The students appoint a shop foreman and he becomes the second in command. This does not completely prevent misbehavior, but the students learn the reality of leading fellow workers/students. Wise shares with pride the fact that he has among former students a master boilermaker and an instructor for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

If you look behind that motorcycle, you will see a retired Air Force Drill Sergeant following. Gloria Donato instructs students in Cosmetology. The students in her program attend from early in the morning through 4:00 in the afternoon. Taylor Welch shares the reason she will miss attending her senior year at Lee's Summit North, "I want to be able to help people feel good about themselves. I have done my friends' hair and hope to make a career out of this." Donato's students describe her as "funny, aggressive, good at what she does, but she doesn't play around."

Vince Nickerson, a builder in his spare time, instructs Construction Trades. He boasts among his former students several construction managers, union leaders and the store manager of an Ace Hardware.

If Ben Griswold coached football there would be stadiums named after him. In the 6 years he has instructed at Herndon, he has collected 5 state championships, one 2^nd place and one national championship in Culinary Arts. "It still stings that we placed 6^th last year in nationals. If we had cut our lemon crowns correctly, we would have won." He boasts former students working for Disney, attending the Culinary Institute of America and 17 employed locally as sous chefs and executive chefs.

Each of the staff can boast of a near 90% placement rate among students who finish their programs. Of the instructors interviewed, they enjoyed quoting former director Brian Mann in saying, "We don't train future employees, we train future employers."

These instructors would also like to add, "If you want to follow Brian on that Harley each day, there are a few slots available in their programs. Talk to your school counselor first."

If you follow this Harley to welding class, you might get to build your own.