For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel Wackershauser, Marketing and PR Specialist
Phone: 608.822.2303
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: April 26, 2018
Students simulate ‘dealership’ experiences at Ag Power Day
Fennimore -For a couple of hours on April 26, students in the Ag Power and Equipment Technician Program transformed the Ag/Auto Center into a “dealership.” The students, all of whom will be graduating next month, worked individually and in groups to highlight various educational projects to the attendees who walked from station to station.
The event, which has been held annually for several years, is the brainchild of Pete Hoffman, Ag Power and Equipment Technician Program instructor. “I get to work with a lot of individuals who have the same interests that I’ve had my whole career and I have the opportunity to put them in that position and to train them into a career that I really enjoyed and thrived on for my entire life,” he said. “Seeing that tradition carried on is great.”
The students spent time preparing for the open house, which included prepping the facility and organizing their presentations. “It’s a great thing that Pete has come up with. He tries to simulate the open house of a dealership and we get to learn…how to talk to customers and how to deal with people,” said student Nick Boland, from New Albin, Iowa.
“We love to show what we enjoy in our program,” added student Brooke Ottensen, from Richland Center, Wisconsin.
The instruction and the Ag Power Day couldn’t be possible without the support Hoffman and the program receive from friends of Southwest Tech. “Case Corporation and John Finney down there at Finney Implement with the CaseIH equipment, we have the capability of having a mini-dealership with the technology of the equipment that he affords us and the software dealership package that we get to work with,” said Hoffman. “John Deere Company and Sloan Implement, with the green equipment, the same thing, it gives our students an opportunity to work on brand new equipment.”