The Press-Dispatch
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Local ........ A1-10 Sports .........B1-3 Classifi eds B7-10 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-8 Obituaries....... C7 History ........... C9 School.... C10-11 E. Gibson ...... C12 WHAT'S INSIDE: CONNECT WITH US: NetEdition ...pressdispatch.net/edition Facebook.....facebook.com/pressdispatch E-Mail .........news@pressdispatch.net Phone:.................. 812-354-8500 Fax: ...................... 812-354-2014 E-Mail . editor@pressdispatch.net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Volume 149 Number 18 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 32 pages Five inserts See GERMAN on page 2 See AMTP on page 2 Earn while you learn best describes Chris Downey's approach to his college education. The Winslow native split his time be- tween taking classes at the Vincennes Uni- versity Campus and doing hands-on work at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana lo- cated nearby in Princeton. Downey is a graduate of Toyota's Ad- vanced Manufacturing Technician Pro- gram, which provides the best of both worlds to participating students. The program is designed to include a two- year degree in Advanced Manufacturing Automation Technology and provide paid employment. The student graduates with real-world experience and global manu- facturing partners get a tested employee. "I was basically training for the job that I took once I graduated," says Downey. "It's a great opportunity to get your foot in the door at a top manufacturing facility in this part of Indiana. It starts building your net- work. It's a good way to lead into a good job and a good career. There is future ad- vancement if you want it." The demand for advanced manufactur- ing technicians is high as manufactur- ers struggle to find highly trained and skilled employees. VU is helping them overcome the workforce shortages with work-based learning partnerships such as the AMT program, the Advanced Intern- ship in Manufacturing (AIM) program in the Lafayette region, and the Career Ad- vancement Partnership (CAP) program in Jasper. There are more than 14,900 available advanced manufacturing jobs in Indiana, according to the state's Next Level Jobs initiative website. Many of those techni- cal positions require postsecondary train- ing and education. The AMT program is a partnership be- tween VU and the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) part- ners: Berry Global, Hershey, Flair Molded Plastics, Farbest Foods, Inc., Metal Tech- nologies, Presta North America, Toyota Indiana, Toyota Boshoku Indiana and Toy- ota Boshoku Illinois LLC. Downey simultaneously had classroom training and worked as an intern at the au- tomotive manufacturing plant. "I would go to school three days a week and work two days a week," Downey says. "When I was at work, we would be doing things and talking about things that I was also doing that same week or same semes- ter in class. If I had any spare time, I could talk with the guys who have been doing it for 20 years." Another benefit is AMT graduates have an opportunity to finish the program with little or no debt. Students can potentially earn as much as $40,000 in salary which, with planning, can cover all their educa- tion expenses. Students work as paid in- terns 16 hours a week, with many starting at $17 per hour. "What I earned during my AMT pro- gram covered my costs," explains Downey. "I don't have any debt. The first year out, you can make good enough money to pay for any debt you accumulate at VU." A week after completing the AMT pro- gram in 2017, TMMI hired Downey full- time. He works in facilities maintenance - the same department in which he in- terned. There are many career advancement op- portunities for advanced manufacturing technicians. Downey received a promotion in early 2018 and has since been promot- ed again. He is now in a supervisory role and is a Skilled Group Leader. Retiring baby boomers and future retir- ing technicians have impacted the number of available advanced manufacturing jobs. For Downey, that signifies job security. "It's neat to see we are the next genera- tion coming in," he said. Graduates hired by AMT partners can potentially earn as much as $ 64,000 year- ly, in addition to excellent benefits. "For some, it's two years out and you're already making the same money as some people would make with a bachelor's de- gree," Downey said. At just 22 years old, Downey is set to close on his first home. "I've been able to go out and get a car without having any type of loan," he said. "Work a year or so and work overtime, then you're definitely ready to start your life as an adult and make all the big pur- chases." Another major milestone is on the hori- zon. Downey has continued his education while working at TMMI and is enrolled in VU's Purdue Polytechnic Institute, work- ing toward obtaining a baccalaureate de- gree in technology. He expects to com- plete the degree program in 2020. Before Downey started the program at VU, he was involved in Pike Central's pre- RV stolen Tuesday from Campbelltown An RV camper was stolen from Camp- belltown Tuesday at about 12:30 p.m. Mindi Gayhart was driving to Petersburg at about 1 p.m. when she saw a camper a couple of vehicles in front of her on High- way 61. Her husband, John Gayhart, said Mindy saw the camper and thought, "that looks like ours." When she got back home, their camper was gone. A neighbor told them a green pick- up truck backed into their driveway and hooked up to the RV and then just drove away. The neighbor described the two men as a tall skinny blonde and a heavy set, dark-headed man. The neighbor said he thought it was just someone borrowing the camper for the weekend. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Paul Collier is investigating the incident. He said they have sent out a dispatch on the camper to all over the area. The camper is a 28 -foot Forest River camper. It has the word Puma in large light blue letters on the front of it and is most- ly white in color, with dark green trim on the bottom. Anyone seeing the camper or with infor- mation about it should call the Pike Coun- ty Sheriff's Department at 812-354-6024 This RV was stolen from the home of John and Mindi Gayhart of Camp- belltown community on Tuesday. Mindi believes she met the thieves on the road, towing the RV behind a green pickup truck. The property tax deadline for the first installment is Friday, May 10. "Due to the large amounts of mail we receive for the Spring Installment, any payments sent through the mail will not be processed un- til after May 10, 2019. No penalty will be assessed to these payments as long as the postmark on the envelope is May 10, 2019, or prior," said Query. The Treasurer's office will have extend- ed hours in May. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern time) Monday through Friday. But they will also be open on Saturday, May 4, from 8 a.m. to noon and Thursday and Friday, May 9 and 10, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Property taxes due May 10 National Day of Prayer in Pike County will be at noon on Thurs- day, May 2 at the Pike County Courthouse. It is sponsored by the Pike County Ministerial Alliance. The service will last between 15 and 30 minutes. It will start with the Pike Central Swing Choir singing the National Anthem. Chuck Froehle will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by First United Methodist Church Pastor Leon D. Pomeroy having the opening greeting. Jim Gid- cumb, of River of Life, will follow with the opening prayer and Pe- tersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch will be reading scripture. They will also have the Lord's Prayer led by First Baptist Church and a Prayer of Repentance led by Christina Priest, of the Living Faith Church International. Father Frank Renner, of Sts. Pe- ter and Paul Catholic Church, will lead a prayer in unison for the na- tion and Rev. Pomeroy will have the closing prayer. National Day of Prayer is held the first Thursday in May each year. This year, the four priori- ties are to 1) Ask God to bless the United States of America; 2) Pray for Americans to love one anoth- er, beginning among Christ fol- lowers; 3) Pray for the center of influence in America; 4) Ask God for the National day of Prayer to become a catalytic spiritual move- ment across America. National Day of Prayer Friday at noon Winslow Sports League Opening Day Opening Day ceremonies on Saturday for the Winslow Sports League included a parade by teams, and two first pitches by George Bruce, the second toss on the inside corner for a right- hand hitter. See additional photos on page A-7. James Capozella photo Downey splits time at VU, TMMI learning on-the-job By Andy Heuring Pike Central's German Class students have won a category of Indiana University's German The- ater Project for High Schools con- test for the sixth year in a row. This year the team of Caleb Cockerham-Willis, Trenton Man, Joey Church, Jade Johnson, Kirst- en Jansen, Jasmine Pozos and Dal- ton Williams won First Place for Adapted Screenwriting. Their film was titled Recht und Ordnung, which in English is Law and Order. The group said they were big fans of Law and Order the T V show. So they wrote their own episode. "Typically we do original scripts. We have written several movies with our own plot lines. But this time around we decided to make our own adaptations. While they used the format of Law and Order, they wrote an original script. Mann said they went through a map of Germany looking for just the right city name. They settled on it being in Leipzig. Mann and Cockerham-Willis played detectives working a mur- der case where a girl had found a body while jogging with her dog. The group has entered the con- test for the last three years. Each year they have won at least one category. Some of the awards they have won over the last three years in- clude Jade Johnson being named Best Actor and Joey Church win- PC German class wins IU award for sixth consecutive year NASCAR driver Garrett Smithley, right, operates a robot in the Vincennes University manufacturing lab with assistance from Chris Downey.