Drafting Design Tech Leads to Job Security
By: Mario Pimentel
Staff Writer
Published December 6, 2018
Green River College offers a program with three subsections for students interested in pursuing careers in architecture, technology, and civil engineering.
The Drafting Design Technologies (DDT) program, in particular, has a great variety of subsections. The program’s three main paths a student may choose from are architecture, technology, and civil engineering. While these three are in the same program, they are quite different from each other. Architecture focuses on the inside of houses, while civil engineering focuses on prep work. An example of civil engineering would be the people that must dig up the ground for the foundation. Technologies and mechanics surround the topic of drafting houses and other living spaces.
Something interesting to note, within the three main subsections, there is another section named Auto Computer Aided Design (CAD) which is present in all three. Here, students learn how to generate computer produced models, parts, or plans suitable for a job in their respective field. Each of the sections uses a different CAD program tailored to their specific jobs.
This program has been at Green River for a long time, in fact, these programs have been around for as long as the school was built. There are revisions being done to the program for the next fall, according to the only professor for the DDT program Terry Waagan. “The reason for the revisions is because we recently had our other professor resign from [Green River], so we have to find a way for me to be able to teach a whole program on my own. Also to see if we need to hire another professor,” said Waagan.
Another revision being done is the Developing a Curriculum (DAYCYM). “This is where the state defines what a student has to know by the time they are done with a program. The state sends someone to ask all the companies about the skills they want a person at their company to know. They then send that to the schools and then to me,” said Wagaan.
The school and faculty have little to no say in this, and only the word from the companies are taken into account. The representative that gathers the data on schools cannot mention anything to staff about the subject.
The program as of right now is shown to have a low student count. “We are not a STEM program like others at [Green River], this is up to the state and not the school; the school wants us to be a STEM but have no say in it. When you are a STEM program your students are counted differently,” said Waagan.
According to Wagaan, there is a market demand for civil engineers and architects, so DDT is recommended for those curious about STEM careers but do not have a solid idea about what they want to major in. Wagaan encourages new students to enter the DDT program.
The program right now is struggling a bit, and there are changes that are being implemented to fix this. In the near future, the program will be back on its feet.
