[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 19, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3235-H3237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANGOLA, INDIANA PROVIDES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND RECREATION
OPPORTUNITIES TO CITIZENS, AND SUCCESSFUL HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR YEAR
EXPERIENCE TO A DIVERSITY OF STUDENTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, Angola is a town in my district of 67,000
people in northeast Indiana, and it has become a hot zone for economic
development, and will become ever more so in the upcoming years.
Obviously, a hard-working work force is important, but that has been
there since the founding. Interstate 80/90, better known as the Indiana
Toll Road, and Interstate 69 intersect just north of town, which has
been a longtime asset of this area.
Angola, Indiana has further capitalized on its natural resource
assets. Lake James and many other lakes in the area have long been a
draw for many people who want to live in an environment where they can
be surrounded by lakes and various recreation opportunities.
By connecting Pokagan State Park to the newly-built YMCA and to its
unique Monument Circle with a bike path, area residents are offered
increasing health and recreation alternatives.
What has given Angola a further edge is the educational collaboration
of Tri-State University, Angola High School, and now the new Plastics
Technology Center. Yesterday I was with Steve Corona of JobWorks, Inc.,
and Craig Adolph and Harry Adamson of the plastics center to announce a
grant of $514,000.
To some, this may seem like the rich are getting richer. Angola has a
lot of advantages. The truth is, Angola is not a wealthy town. It is
basically mid-America or maybe even slightly below in income, but they
are organized. They have been rising because they have been able to
coordinate several things that in fact have become the keys to economic
development: the recreation opportunities, the lifestyle opportunities,
combined with good transportation, a good work force, and increasingly,
a well-trained and educated work force.
One of the things that Angola provides is a continuum of education
efforts. Whether the student decides to go into the work force directly
after high school, enter a 2-year vocational program or community
college program, or whether they are going to attend a 4-year
university or just continue life-long learning or specific training
that is not degree-driven, it is a real-world option.
To employers, this means that students are being prepared for real-
world jobs. Too often, our education is generic. Many job training
programs at times seem to be marginally useful. It is easy to criticize
our schools when they get things wrong, and we frequently do it from
this floor.
At Angola High School, they are getting things right. I visited their
effective Safe and Drug-Free Schools program. As chairman of the
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, it
has been frustrating to see a lot of programs that do not work. This is
one that has worked.
They have a great high-tech program which is innovative at the State
and national level. They consistently win the State music programs over
the last few years. I am proud that it is in my district, but let me
give the Members a couple of examples that illustrate why and what I
mean by this.
The principal was quoted in this article, and the article reiterates
that the U.S. Department of Education has singled out Angola as the
``new American high school,'' and the principal is one of only two high
school principals on the National Commission on the High School Senior
Year national study. The Indiana Association of Teacher Educators in
1998 and 1996 picked Angola as Indiana's most outstanding high school.
One of the things they have done for the high school seniors is a
workplace participation program. About 40 businesses and industries in
Steuben County have developed a 9-week workplace curriculum. The high
school's flexible four-block schedule allows students time to travel by
bus to their workplaces.
Let me give a couple of examples. One student at Angola, Todd Hack,
is further along in his college career than some college freshmen. He
will start at Tri-State University with 26 hours of credits earned from
advanced placement courses and computer classes he took on campus. The
flexible schedule allowed him to move ahead, so he was able to stay in
school and, because he was an advanced student, get a college
education.
Another student, Greg Knauer, worked 30 hours a week in his senior
year at a construction firm earning hours towards his journeyman's
license. He hopes to begin an apprenticeship after graduation, another
type of career path.
Yet another student, Amy Dennis, was interested in nursing, but did
not have a family member to show her the ropes. Her workplace
participation took her to Cameron Memorial Community Hospital, where
she followed every clinical rotation. She will study nursing at Indiana
University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne, or IPFW or the University
of St. Francis next fall, and hopes to become an obstetrics nurse.
Yet another student will participate in a Cisco computer program in
which two high schools in my district have hooked up, and when
finished, he will be certified to build up a network system from ground
up. He is planning to attend Cornell or MIT, his early picks, and he is
confident his high school record, near perfect SAT scores, will make
them take notice.
[[Page H3236]]
This is how high school should work, where we have the range of
students, a diversity of students: one here, one going into
construction, one into nursing at college, one into an advanced
placement program, and one to an Ivy League school.
I want to congratulate Angola, and I am proud to represent them.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following articles from the
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and the News-Sun and Evening Star of Auburn
and Angola.
The articles referred to are as follows:
Is High School Senior Year a Waste of time?
(By Karen Francisco)
Senior-itis symptoms are at the full-blown stage. Mortar
boards and gowns in hand, scores of high school seniors are
impatiently marking time, waiting for the chance to slam the
door on childhood and rush headlong into life.
But are they ready? Have the spent the past nine months
preparing for what lies beyond, or have they been stuck in an
antiquated educational system that allots 12 years of
schooling for 11 years of knowledge?
The National Commission on the High School Senior Year
considered the question. It arrived at the conclusion that
``The nation faces a deeply troubling future unless we
transform the lost opportunity of the senior year into an
integral part of students' preparation for life, citizenship,
work and further education.''
In his charge to the commission, former U.S. Secretary of
Education Robert Riley described the senior year as a
``wasteland,'' a year of ``significant drift and
disconnection.''
The panel's final report will be released June 28, and it
will likely create a stir not unlike 1983's landmark ``A
Nation at Risk'' report, according to Dr. Rex Bolinger,
principal at Angola High School and one of just two high
school principals on the high-powered commission. Look for a
sweeping indictment of the structure of U.S. high schools.
institutional problems
Bolinger points to a number of problems with the typical
American high school and its role in the education spectrum.
First and foremost might be its inflexibility.
``We've allowed learning to be the variable and time and
support the constant,'' Bolinger said. ``The opposite is what
is needed.''
He cited the example of students following a math
curriculum without regard to their own interests and
abilities. Students are passed along, and when they begin to
struggle, they simply choose not to take any more math
classes. Inflexible six- or seven-period schedules discourage
students from retaking courses they haven't mastered.
American students don't perform as well as students from
other industrialized countries on math and science exams
because our high school curricula allow them to opt out of
advanced courses like calculus and chemistry long before
their counterparts, the principal said.
``The message we've got to get out is that whatever you
plan to do after you get out of high school, we've all got to
have the same rigorous preparation,'' Bolinger said.
Another problem with the typical high school is the sorting
process, according to the principal. Unwittingly, some
teachers and systems sort and label students as college prep,
general ed or vocational. The labels stick, and students who
might have discovered a passionate interest in art,
literature or computers are dismissed as non-college types.
Disenfranchised, they lose interest in school and are at risk
to drop out.
Angola is model
Bolinger's own school could be a model for how high school
should work. It has been singled out by the U.S. Department
of Education as a ``New American High School,'' and by the
Indiana Association of Teacher Educators in 1996 and `98 as
Indiana's ``Most Outstanding Successful High School.''
The school's evolution began about six years ago, when
Bolinger and some business and education leaders began
talking about how to prepare students for jobs in the
community. The result was the Workplace Participation
Program. About 40 businesses and industries in Steuben County
have developed a nine-week workplace curriculum. The high
school's flexible four-block schedule allows students time to
travel by bus to the workplaces.
``The curriculum is simple to prepare,'' Bolinger said.
``We tell them, ``Write down what you do and teach them.' ''
And the students are learning.
Joe Dolack is a senior who transferred to Angola from
Illinois his sophomore year. He repeated a math class to
catch up on academics, and then began participating in the
workplace program at General Products Corp., an automotive
components supplier. His grade-point average has risen three
points on a 12-point scale and he plans to attend community
college in Coldwater, Mich., before transferring to a four-
year school. A career in manufacturing management is his
goal.
Senator Amy Dennis was interested in nursing, but didn't
have a family member to show her the ropes. Her workplace
participation took her to Cameron Memorial Community
Hospital, where she followed every clinical rotation. She
will study nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University
Fort Wayne or the University of St. Francis next fall, and
hopes to become an obstetrics nurse.
It was a job in the building trades that enticed Greg
Knauer. He has worked 30 hours a week during his senior year
at Ingledue Construction, earning hours toward his
journeyman's license. He hopes to begin an apprenticeship in
construction after graduation.
Angola senior Todd Hack is further along in his college
career than some college freshman. He'll start at Tri-State
University this fall with 26 hours of credit earned from
Advanced Placement courses and computer classes he took on
campus. The flexible schedule at Angola allowed him to
move ahead, Hack said, while still finishing high school
requirements and participating in three sports.
Amy Enneking, also a senior, is convinced she wants to
teach after spending her workplace participation hours in a
first-grade classroom at Hendry Park Elementary School. She
will study elementary education at Butler University this
fall.
Chris DeLucenay is still a junior, but his career goals are
clear.
``I knew I wanted an aggressive schedule,'' he said. ``I'm
interested in computers and engineering, so I've taken
calculus at Tri-State and two Advanced Placement courses.''
He will participate next year in the Cisco computer program
and, when finished, will be certified to build a network
system from the ground up. Cornell and MIT are his early
college picks, and he's confident his high school record (and
near-perfect SAT scores) will make them take notice.
A team effort
Craig Adolph, an Angola education consultant who has been
involved in the school program since its inception, said the
most remarkable thing about recent Angola graduates is their
focus. All seem to have a clear idea of what they want to do
and how to do it.
For the community's part, Adolph said, the job is to keep
people in touch with learning so they never are reluctant to
return to college or a job-training program.
Dr. Tom Enneking, vice president for academic affairs at
Ti-State, said the key was to develop a seamless delivery
system for education. His school had previously offered an
early admissions program, but the partnership with Angola
High School allowed it to build on the Advanced Placement
courses, easily bridging the high school to college gap that
some students fail to cross.
the job ahead
Bolinger said the transformation of American high schools
was one step in a bigger task--building an infrastructure
that supports lifelong learning, instead of one that starts
and stops in uneven intervals between preschool and
adulthood.
The first step--creating high schools that work--won't come
easily, Bolinger said, but he's hopeful the national
commission's recommendations will spur progress. A report
that challenges the fundamental structure of American
education is a sharp departure from the current testing and
standards hysteria, but the principal said he is hopeful for
its prospects because of bipartisan support and the interest
of Rod Paige, who was a member of the commission until he
replaced Riley as secretary of education.
Bolinger said some parents have accused his school--with
its emphasis on career training and college courses--of
pushing students out the door. The opposite is true, he said.
Rather than constraining students to a rigid, cookie-cutter
model, a high school schedule should promote independence and
self-exploration. The old model served us well for many
years, the principal said, but a new American high school is
what's needed for a new century.
study's findings
Selected findings from the National Commission on the High
School Senior Year:
A high school diploma is no longer a guarantee of success
in either postsecondary education or the world of work.
The goal of the American high school needs to be reoriented
from preparing some students for college and others for work.
The conditions of modern life require that all students
graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills
needed to succeed in both postsecondary education and
careers.
``The tyranny of low expectations'' hinders many minority
students and many poor students from all ethnic backgrounds.
Ideally, beginning in the middle school years, every
student would have a ``learning plan,'' a formal but flexible
outline of what the student hopes to accomplish in young
adulthood and which education, work and service experiences
can best help him or her to attain those goals.
The kindergarten-12 system is poorly aligned and has not
established reliable lines of communication with
postsecondary education and the world of work. The National
Commission on the High School Senior Year
(www.commissiononthesenioryear.org)
____
Grant To Pay for Training Plastics Workers
(By Yvonne Paske)
Angola--That attractive structure next to the Breeden YMCA
and Learning Center on Angola's northeast side isn't just for
show.
The Plastics Technology Center will continue on its course
to train a work force on
[[Page H3237]]
state-of-the-art plastics technology for jobs in Indiana,
Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, thanks to a $514,550 U.S.
Department of Labor grant.
Collaborators on the grant, U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind.,
Steve Corona of JobWorks Inc., Harry Adamson, Plastics
Technology Center director, and Craig Adolph of the Cole
Foundation, made the announcement at the Plastics Technology
Center Monday.
The grant was requested in January and awarded Friday,
Adolph said. A curriculum and courses may be in place as soon
as this summer or fall to train workers on specific machinery
allowing some to step into jobs earning them $40,000 a year,
he said.
The training is available to workers in the Indiana
counties of Noble and DeKalb, as well as Steuben, Souder
said. It also is open to Williams County, Ohio, and Branch,
Hillsdale and St. Joseph counties of Michigan.
The training will be free, as the grant will pick up the
cost, Adamson said. To date, he has hired no project manager,
although the coordinating process with other workplaces has
begun.
In opening comments, Souder characterized Steuben County as
a spot on the cusp of becoming an industrial magnet due to
job training, exceptional schools, natural beauty,
recreational options and advantageous transportation routes.
``This is clearly a hot zone for Indiana,'' he said. ``The
rolling hills, the interstate structure, the lakes. ...
That's why we work to get money for the airport expansion, a
bypass around Angola, the bike path. ... It all makes a
positive ambiance for industrial recruitment, and in the
middle of it you have a technology center.''
He praised Angola High School's advanced use of technology,
its partnership with Tri-State University and its school-to-
workplace program and emphasized those assets work together
to train and keep a available work force in Steuben County.
``The Plastics Technology Center can help Angola High
School reach out,'' he said. ``The companies ultimately with
this grant can help meet the increasing demands for mid-tech
workers and keep them here. This is for people in high school
who recognize everyone will not go to college. We're
retraining the work force. This will help northeast Indiana
further along the path for an enhanced quality of life.''
Corona credited the interaction between Adolph and Adamson,
the facility itself, the coordination with work force systems
in the tri-state area and the training curriculum for the nod
on the grant.
``We expect to serve 1,000 people over the next 24 month
period. . . . Research shows around 100 plastics plants in
Michigan and Indiana (alone),'' he said.
``That's what higher education in the U.S. and Indiana is
about,'' Adolph said. ``We're going to keep our students
here. We are out in front, and with these people's help,
we're going to stay there.''
Adamson said the center will help Steuben County compete in
a global environment. Training for students, incumbent and
dislocated workers will mean higher productivity, said the
30-year veteran of the plastics industry.
Adamson led those assembled on a tour of the center,
including a visit to the computer lab, where students learn
industrial software packages in the center's Cisco Academy.
``Here students are trained on the simulation models,
individually, at their own speed,'' he said.
He also showed off the actual plastics machinery upon which
students will train, calling it ``the latest, the highest''
in technology. The machinery and lab were donated by
companies on six-month leases, and computers procured through
a $50,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant written by
Adolph.
``We're looking at concrete, bottom-line dollars here,''
Adamson said. ``These people will be trained--you don't need
to call a more skilled person.''
Souder spoke to the environmental issues and impact
attendant upon courting industry and plastics plants while
touting the area's unspoiled natural beauty.
``First off, why are companies moving toward plastics?'' he
queried. ``Because they want cleaner air, and people want
higher gas mileage, which lighter, plastic parts (can give).
As we move toward more biodegradable plastics, the
manufacturing impact is less, as opposed to steel mills.
Plastics also have some of the cleaner software jobs because
we'll have applied sciences. . . . I know this is a sensitive
issue in a lakes area. Plastics isn't the cleanest
(industry), but it's among them,'' he said. He pointed to
University of Notre Dame research developing reduced air
pollution techniques in relation to plastics manufacturing.
Adolph indicated plastics may be the tip of the iceberg in
recruiting business to the area.
``With training and with Tri-State as a partner, we . . .
should be able to attract other technology-based industries
as well,'' he said. ``This building can be enhanced, so
plastics is just the first large manufacturer.''
____________________