KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse
Inside the Unified School District (USD) 232’s Cedar Trails Exploration Center (CTEC), high school students are working on art for the city of De Soto, Kansas.
As De Soto continues to grow and prepares to welcome the Panasonicelectric vehicle battery plant, these USD 232 students have become an exciting part of what’s to come in the area.
CTEC is part of the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS). Through the program, high school students of USD 232 have the opportunity to get real-world, hands-on experience in fields like technology, bioscience, and design, before they’ve even graduated high school.
“Those are the jobs of the future,” CTEC Building Administrator Tim Mispagel said. “And automation is a very up and coming need.”
Mispagel helps lead the program. He said he sees future opportunities for his students with Panasonic, but the competition is crowded. He said they’re already partnered with Huhtamaki, and they’re gaining attention from other big local names like Garmin. They don’t have any formal partnerships in place with Panasonic at the moment.
"We're working to, you know, develop that curriculum, and work with partners to let us know, what do you need, and how can we best prepare students for your opportunity?" Mispagel said.
A group of CTEC students are currently making a sculpture for the city of De Soto. They asked residents for feedback on what artwork they wanted to see. A sunflower was the perhaps unsursprising – and ironic – result. It’s a statewide staple, of course, but it’s also a nod to the historic Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant that Panasonic is replacing.
De Soto High School senior Miller Benak is one of the students on the project. He said he sees how De Soto is growing, too.
"Everything's changing. Nothing's like it used to be,” he said. “It's good for the town and good for everyone around it."
But even as De Soto prepares for what's to come, they're still shining a light on what's shaped their city.
Benak is on the fast track to his dream job as a welder. He said hard work and hands-on skill runs in his family. He plans to get his welding certificate at Manhattan Tech after he graduates.
"I've learned to fall in love with it, and it's just what I like to do,” Benak said.
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