Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Brunner, Bloom, Rodenberg, Petrinovich, Wuethrich
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 6/08/2016
Local CVTC Graduates find Pathways to Their Futures (Grads - 2016)
Local CVTC Graduates find Pathways to Their Futures
Matthew Brunner, who works at OEM, Inc. in Neillsville, lines up for the CVTC graduation ceremony with his fellow Machine Tool Technics program graduate Scott Bloom of Eleva. They were among 639 graduates honored during the May 6 ceremony. (Contributed photo)
Matthew Brunner expects to improve his position at OEM, Inc. in Neillsville following his May 6 graduation from Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC). Erin Rodenberg hopes to find a job in her home area of Black River Falls now that she has her degree.
Brunner and Rodenberg were among 639 graduates in 47 programs honored at CVTC’s spring commencement ceremony in Eau Claire. Brunner was one of 18 graduates in the Machine Tooling Technics program, while Rodenberg joined 15 graduates in the pharmacy Technician program. The largest program was Nursing-Associate Degree with 83 graduates, followed by Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement with 41.
CVTC honored 67 graduates in 8 programs at the River Falls campus commencement held May 5.
Brunner, a 2014 Stanley-Boyd High School graduate, went to work for OEM, Inc. that same year, joining his uncle, Nick Petrinovich. But Brunner needed more training to work into an advanced position at the company.
OEM, Inc. was glad to help. With a shortage of trained machinists in the market, the company agreed to help pay for Brunner’s tuition at CVTC. Brunner loved the training and loves the work.
“We work on new stuff every day,” he said. “It keeps me motivated.”
Now that he has his degree, Brunner is in line for more responsibility, and more money.
“I’m going to start raining on a 50-taper machine, which is a higher machinist level,” Brunner said.
Rodenberg got interested in her field in high school.
“I was taking psychology and got interested in the drugs they use to treat people,” Rodenberg said. She combined that with a general interest in math and science and chose the pharmacy technician program, which she found to be challenging, but rewarding.
“I drove back and forth from Black River Falls every day for school,” Rodenberg said. “Now I’d like to find work close to home.”
The commencement speaker at the ceremony was Trevor Wuethrich, president and co-owner of Grassland Dairy in Greenwood, a 1994 graduate of CVTC’s Marketing program. He always planned work work for the family business, but found his education at CVTC valuable preparation.
“Your diploma, albeit a good one, doesn’t entitle you to success,” Wuethrich said. “It gets you an invite to the dance. It’s what you do when you get there that will define your success, Wuethrich said. There will be failures along the way, and there will be personal sacrifices that need to be made. But please remember to love what you do and have fun doing it.”
