After COVID suspension, MATC board visits Fort campus

By Chris Spangler

After a six-year hiatus, the Madison Area Technical College District Board of Trustees returned to the Fort Atkinson campus on Wednesday.

The school’s nine-member governing body held its meeting following a community reception that included building tours and brief remarks by board Chair Dr. Elton Crim, Jr., and MATC President Jack Daniels.

Welcoming attendees, Crim noted that the board of trustees is the link between the college and the communities in the Madison College District.

“That’s why we enjoy traveling to the college’s regional campuses, something we haven’t been able to do since the fall of 2019,” he said, referring to the visits being suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Thank you for the opportunity to interact with the students. They share their energy and their commitment to excellence on the campus and the virtual classroom,” he added.

Crim said that he enjoyed the building tour, particularly seeing the metal fabrication lab that opened in March.

The $1.35 million project added 4,703 square feet of new space and remodeled 3,598 square feet of the workshop and classroom areas built in 2013. The number of welding booths increased from eight to 17 and a CNC laser was acquired.

“The metal fabrication area is awesome and it is great to see the fruits of our decisions to support what you are trying to do out here,” Crim said. “We get to meet with employers, when we come out here in this area, who hire our students and who the college partners with to keep the local economy strong and vibrant, and we appreciate the chance to connect with the faculty and staff who serve our students in the Eastern Region.”

Madison College President Jack Daniels echoed Crim’s sentiments.

“It’s been six years since we’ve been in Fort for a meeting; we had that little problem in between called the pandemic,” he said. “But it does give us an opportunity, not just to meet folks in the community, but to really get another sense of the value of Madison College to a community.”

He recalled when MATC-Fort Atkinson had a wind turbine and mentioned the solar panels being used today.

“That just speaks to how we continue to evolve. I think that’s important for an institution to evolve with the community’s needs,” Daniels said.

He added that, in the months to come, MATC’s leadership will continue to look at how the college can increase its connections with the communities it serves.

Daniels also acknowledged Jimmy DeGidio, co-program director of MATC’s Metal Fabrication Program, for “that fantastic fab lab you’ve got going on,” and asked him to say a few words.

“I  want to thank everyone for all your support,” DeGidio said. “We’ve got state-of-the-art equipment; we have a state-of-the-art facility. Thank you.”

He noted that MATC-Fort Atkinson’s students have excelled at the SkillsUSA competitions in recent years.

Last year’s three-person team took first place in the state. 

“We won gold. We went to the nationals in Atlanta and we took ninth in the country,” DeGidio said.

He said that the woman on MATC-Fort Atkinson’s team was the only female competing at nationals, where 26 states were represented.

Today, two of the three winning team members are working at Spacesaver, while the third still is in school.

Two years before their SkillsUSA win, he said, the Fort Atkinson campus’ team took second and the MATC’s Truax campus’ team took fifth in the county.

“So our metal fabrication program is top of the nation, and we prove that every year with our students, DeGidio added.

MATC-Fort Atkinson’s roots are deep in Fort Atkinson. According to a list of its significant events compiled by campus operations manager Matthew Young, the Fort Atkinson Vocational School was organized in 1931. 

Among the classes offered, mostly in the evening, were dairying, shorthand, filing, drafting, hygiene, welding, typing, history, drafting, comptometry and adult basic education.