Case IH donated three tractors to trade schools to help students with practical learning
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Students at three U.S. technical schools will have the opportunity to work on state-of-the-art farm equipment thanks to a donation from Case IH.
The equipment manufacturer donated a Puma 170, an Optum 270 and Optum 300 to Parkland College in Illinois, the North Dakota State College of Science and Lake Area Technical Institute in South Dakota, respectively.
Representatives from Parkland College are excited about the opportunities the Puma 170 tractor presents for students.
The tractor came to the school missing some components, forcing the students to brainstorm and determine the best solutions.
“This unit doesn’t have the whole armrest in it and the cab is incomplete,” Gordie Hedrick, the ag technology program director at the school, told Farms.com. “Other than starting, it won’t do anything else. So, the students are going to go through, reverse-engineer it and piece it all together to make the tractor operational.
“Sometimes the students need to see tractors that are in disrepair or broken to give them real-world training.”
Case IH representatives are pleased to be able to contribute to ag education.
Providing students with these hands-on experiences helps them develop the necessary skills needed to find employment.
“There are so many things (students) can use as training aids and (this type of learning) gives them real-life experience,” said Travis McClure, the education and recruiting coordinator at Birkey’s Farm Store, a Case IH dealership in Gibson City, Ill.