Area 30 Greencastle Indiana

By JASON MOON
Assistant Editor

Typically, students who plan on attending college do it to further the learning process.
However, the Area 30 Career Center has every right to boast it currently can offer more than some universities.
On Tuesday, Area 30 3-D Computer Animation and Visualization teacher Jon Tesmer, along with student Danny Dews, offered the Area 30 board what students in the program have been up to recently.
The duo delivered a DVD presentation to the board, explaining what the class has to offer.
The DVD was created by students, and included various projects the students had worked on, although Tesmer said they were not fully rendered yet.
Tesmer said there were three sides to the class, including engineering, visual effects and building games, which he said the students enjoyed the most.
Dews added how the program allows students to add cartoons into real-life situations, such as the movie "Toy Story."
"This has so many features, we could take all day telling you about them," Tesmer told the five board members in attendance.
Board President and Greencastle Supt. Robert Green was not at Tuesday's meeting. Vice President and North Putnam Supt. Murray Pride presided over the meeting.
Tesmer told the board members that some Area 30 students recently visited Purdue University. During the visit, the Purdue students were amazed, he said, by how much the Area 30 students were doing with the program.
Tesmer told the board members Tuesday that Purdue and Indiana State offered degrees in the field but didn't offer as much as Area 30.
"TheyÕre not as far along as we are," Tesmer said. "We're extremely proud to have this class."
The DVD began with Sublime's "Santeria" playing while showing some of the projects students had worked on.
Some of the examples of the students' work the DVD included a truck spinning its wheels out prior to taking off down a road, and a fireworks display.
"That's pretty appropriate for Valentine's Day," South Putnam Supt. Dan Schroeder chimed in.
"This is cutting edge," Tesmer said. "This is what we're heading to."
In other news, the board:
- Heard an update on the North Central Accreditation from Area 30 Assistant Director Lora Wood.
- Tabled the 2006-07 budget funding proposal by a 5-0 vote, after Schroeder said he wanted to see more information.
- Approved a resolution authorizing Walton and Area 30 treasurers to transfer funds and purchase equipment as needed from extracurricular accounts.
- Approved unanimously the hiring of Jerry Thomas as an instructional assistant.
- Approved the termination of Lorraine Fuller as instructional assistant.
- Approved unanimously for Walton to attend the NACTEI annual conference in Palm Springs, Calif., on May 15-19.
- Approved unanimously for Vicki Archer to attend the COABE conference in Houston, Texas, on April 27-29.
The board meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month. Its next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., March 1