Spider Brings Educational Opportunities To A-B Tech Students
Compensatory Education Instructor Nancy Allen with students Ruby, John and Allan, are standing beside the window in the Pines Building where a writing spider, her web and three egg cases were discovered. "Our students and the other students who use those classrooms off that hall have developed an active interest in this spider. We've been able to see her catch flies and work on her web. Without knowing it (as if she would care!) this spider has created numerous educational moments for us and our students," Allen said.
A writing spider works on her web in a window in the Pines Building. Her egg cases, which look like tiny upside-down hot air balloons, are lined up on the left side of her web. A teacher in Pines printed out some information about writing spiders and put it up on the wall by the web.
A-B Tech Compensatory Education Students Create Gingerbread House
After two months of planning and preparation, students in A-B Tech's Compensatory Education community living class taught by Kathy Davis and Connie Smutz, completed a gingerbread house entered in the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa's 2005 National Gingerbread House Competition.
"These guys are so creative," said Smutz. "They did a great job." Students in the class are Corinna B., Yannick B., Eric C., Amy D., Phyllis D., Sara Jo G., Ginger H., Kim K., Jennifer M., Rob P., Cecil R., Richard R. and Nicole W.
Before even the first piece of gingerbread could be baked, research had to be done. Smutz went to a complementary gingerbread workshop presented by Aaron Morgan, executive pastry chef at the Grove Park Inn. The class also studied the entries during last year's competition.
Students then decided to come up with a building to create. The first choice was to make an edible replica of the Pines Building, where they hold classes on the Asheville campus. "It turned out to be too complicated," said Smutz, of the sprawling multi-leveled structure.
So a more simple, traditional design of a two-story home was chosen, but with a red-tiled roof in honor of A-B Tech's Ivy Building, which sits across from the Pines Building. The design was planned and sketched as Davis and Smutz chose materials to be used.
"Every piece of the house has to be edible. We used traditional windmill cookies for the windows," Smutz said. "We had to think of what these guys could use, based on not having an oven in our classroom."
After a month of planning, it was time to start the construction. The gingerbread was baked at the instructors' homes using the recipe from the Grove Park Inn, which included using egg to make the structure more solid. Students also found that making royal icing with a teaspoon of white vinegar makes it perfect to use as a mortar to hold the pieces together.
The roof is made of cinnamon chewing gum, each piece hand-cut by the students and carefully aligned on a gingerbread base. It took patience, time and measuring to get it just right. The gingerbread has to go through a process of being chilled and sitting overnight before it can even start to be used in the house. Several of the cookie windows broke and had to be carefully replaced.
"Everyone's been good and not eating anything," said Smutz. "But we ate the windows that broke."
Parents of the students and staff members of Compensatory Education donated the money for the materials, which also includes truffle-filled donuts to help build the landscape.
In addition to community living, A-B Tech's Compensatory Education program provides classes in languages, math, social sciences, health, consumer education, and vocational education for adults.
Compensatory Education Thanksgiving Dinner
President K. Ray Bailey and Vice President of Instructional Services Sharon Morrissey sit with student Cecil at A-B Tech's Annual Compensatory Education Thanksgiving Dinner held Nov. 22. Cecil gave a vocal performance before the dinner. Instructor Connie Smutz created the banner hanging behind them. The writing is Cherokee for Happy Thanksgiving.
Small Business Center Receives SBA Award
Lynn Douthett, associate district director for the Small Business Administration, presents an SBA Partner Award to Russ Yelton, A-B Tech Small Business Center director.
A-B Tech's Small Business Center received the 2005 SBA Partner Award as Top Performer in the Western Region from the U.S. Small Business Administration during the annual Small Business Center Conference Nov. 9 and 10 in Atlantic Beach.
The award was given for distinguished achievement and performance in the support and advancement of small business development and job creation. The criteria for the award looked at the number of loans a Small Business Center has generated, as well as how well it works with the SBA.
"The Small Business Administration has been instrumental in assisting our local small business owners over a number of years to obtain working capital and equipment and property financing previously unavailable to them," said Russ Yelton, director of the A-B Tech Small Business Center. "Our local office headed up by Mike Arriola has done an excellent job of assisting our center with client education and assistance and we look forward to a continued close working relationship."