Over 100 Sitkans gathered at Blatchley Middle School for the 3rd annual Salo Salo event on Saturday, hosted by Sitka High School’s Filipino culture club, Barkadas. KCAW’s Ryan Cotter attended the event amongst newcomers and returning regulars alike, experiencing an afternoon full of games, song and dance, a quickly emptied buffet, and a reminder of the importance of Pinoy pride. 

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Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe basketball teams hosted the Kenai Kardinals this weekend. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey spoke with Sentinel sports editor Garland Kennedy to break down the action.

The class of 2015 takes in Bob Potrzuski’s commencement address. (KCAW photo/ Vanessa Walker)

It’s May, which means it’s time for a new batch of Sitka High School seniors to graduate. Tuesday night (5-26-2015), 67 students waved a joyous, but somber goodbye to their home away from home. Hundreds of their family members came to cheer them on. KCAW’s Vanessa Walker caught up with students moments before they walked the graduation line.

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One half of Sitka’s Career & Technical Education center is devoted to auto shop, but there’s also room to build a substantial boat. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

It was a sunny Friday afternoon in Sitka, and there was not a high school student in sight. But that didn’t stop around 30 elected officials, school administrators and faculty, and appreciative members of the public, from dedicating Sitka’s new CTE, or Career and Technical Education building.

The $2.9-million structure encloses a total of 8,500 square feet of floor space, and means that Sitka students can fabricate metal, work on cars and boats, or even construct small buildings while never having to step outdoors.

The CTE completes a vision formed years ago in the minds of Sitka’s vocational educators, who want to train students in every step of modern industrial production, from computer-aided design and 3-D printing, to casting, machining, and assembly.

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Randy Hughey – So thank you so much for coming everyone. There’s Ben’s root beer, there’s cookies. There’s cool stuff going on. Thank you all for coming. It’s now the open house.
(Applause.)

This may be the last time anyone’s going to eat cookies in Sitka’s new Career and Technical Education center, or CTE. It’s just a matter of time before this huge, warehouse-like building attached to Sitka High will be ankle deep in metal shavings and sawdust.

The CTE was the brainchild of Randy Hughey, the now-retired woodshop instructor who’s directing us to the cookies, and Tim Pike, who’s still teaching metals and auto shop.

He takes me on a tour of the automotive area, where four lifts have been installed.

Pike – The old shop, we did a lot of great work in there, but it was cramped. This expansion helps students see the possibilities, and go forward.
KCAW – I’ve heard that cars are so hard to work on nowadays. How has the automotive program changed?
Pike – Well, we do a lot more talk about computers, but in some ways cars are easier to work on, because the computers do the thinking for you, unfortunately. So when you plug in your diagnostic tool you don’t have to worry so much about figuring out the mysterious symptoms, because the sensors will give you information that in the past you had to dig for. But in other ways, they’re more complicated. There are more symptoms to learn the integration of. So if there’s been a change, it’s been from the base understanding, to the base understanding plus understanding the integration of systems.

Integration not just of automotive systems, but of fabrication and assembly systems. Moving the car lifts into the CTE has created room for a digital plasma cutter, which can create metal in shapes limited “only by the students imagination” Pike says. Another machine is cutting an aluminum gear for one of the outboard engines that line the walls. There’s space in the CTE to build anything from a skiff to a pretty substantial boat in the 30-foot range. Next door, just past the computer fabrication lab, Pike releases me into the company of Mike Vieira, who teaches woodshop.

I’ve always thought this was an impressively large shop space, accommodating projects from small nameplates to large cabinets. Vieira had reservations about working indoors.

“For me it was pretty much a big, open space that is out of the weather. I felt kind of guilty about it. Well, if kids are going to do construction in Alaska, they’re going to be outside. That’s a real teachable skill.”

Sitka’s wood shop/construction teacher Mike Vieira says the first thing he noticed when he brought his classes indoors was “increased productivity.” Three buildings are in progress in the CTE, including a Tiny Home, at right. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Vieira is a second-generation vocational teacher at Sitka High. Two substantial sheds are under construction — maybe about 200 square feet each. Then there’s the tiny home: an actual 120 square foot house constructed on a flatbed trailer, that is designed to move every few years with its owners.

Vieira says he got over his guilt when he saw how productive his students became in the CTE . The new facility means that students can think — and act — on a larger scale.

“I think that’s the biggest thing we teach, is how to work. And once we get that, the skills come pretty quick. Once you get into that mindset of working. I’m pretty impressed with how far some of the kids have come as we’ve put the rafters on. Cutting rafters, for anyone who’s tried to deal with those angles and the math involved with that, it’s kind of a brain teaser until you really get that process down and do it over and over again.”

Vieira says the tiny house will be the CTE’s first two-semester project. In a way, though, the CTE itself is a Sitka High project. The contractor, Chris Balovich, went through this program. Metals instructor Tim Pike believes we’ve come full circle in vocational education.

KCAW – Do you see kids coming out of your program and going into the trades?
Pike – Absolutely. Probably half of his crew building this building were my former students.
KCAW – Does that concern you?
Pike – (Laughs) Absolutely not!

The Sitka Lady Wolves take a timeout during Region V Tournament play in Ketchikan (KCAW photo/Ingfrid Olney-Miller)

The Sitka Lady Wolves dropped the first game of the Region V Basketball Tournament in Ketchikan on Tuesday (3-3-15), but they still have a chance to advance.

The Sitka girls lost to the Petersburg Lady Vikings, 40 – 49. Petersburg will go on to play the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves in round 2 this afternoon at 4:45 PM.

The loser of that game will play Sitka Thursday morning at 8 AM. If Sitka wins at that time, the Lady Wolves will advance to the final round.

The Region V Basketball tournament is a double-elimination format. As a result, if the Lady Wolves meet an undefeated opponent in the final round, they’ll have to beat that team twice in order to claim the championship.

The Petersburg boys are in the same boat. They lost to the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves yesterday, 49 – 65. Mt. Edgecumbe will meet the Sitka boys at 6:15 this evening. The Wolves received a first-round bye in the tourney.

The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves at the line, in their win over Petersburg Tuesday. (KCAW photo/Ingfrid Olney-Miller)

The “Wired Wolves” (l to r): Tristan Van Cise, Evan McArthur, Spencer Upcraft, Alex Corak, Tad Nelson, and Dylan Monaco. Mrs. Jones II is in front. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

A dedicated team of Sitka students is competing in Anchorage this weekend (February 20 – 21), but they won’t be scoring layups or debating public policy. The “Wired Wolves” are headed to their first state championship — in Robotics.

KCAW’s Robert Woolsey visited the robotics classroom at Sitka High recently, to look into the soul of this new machine.

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A competition robot doesn’t look like anything out of “The Jetsons.” This device, named Mrs. Jones II, looks more like an erector set and some Legos had a baby.

Mrs. Jones II (the students are also considering “Hulk” as a name). Following the failure of Mrs. Jones I at the regional competition, the team rebuilt the robot almost entirely from scratch. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

But don’t let its humble appearance deceive you. Mrs. Jones II is the product of some fairly high-level design and programming. Picture something about the size of a carry-on suitcase, made of clear green acrylic and Tetrix parts, with tank treads rather than wheels.

Learn more about the First Tech Alaska Challenge.

“You can either start in the parking zone, or the ramp. The teams consist of two robots, and you’re against another team of two robots,” says senior Tristan Van Cise. He programmed Mrs. Jones II.

“And you complete tasks by dumping balls into those tubes during the autonomous phase, and dragging tubes during the TeleOp phase, which is when we’re controlling the robot. So, we have pincers on the back of the robot to pick up those tubes and place them on the ramp by the end of the round.”

Working on her own, Mrs. Jones II drives down a wooden ramp into a competition area of about 50 square feet, uses sonar sensors to locate an upright plastic tube, and drops the ball into it.

Van Cise and two of his teammates, Evan McArthur and Tad Nelson, believe they’ve just about perfected Mrs. Jones II. They’ve worked hundreds of hours on the robot, in school and after, and it’s worked flawlessly — until the media arrives.

Ball drops…
Oh… Almost.
McArthur – I think it got bent off to the side. Or it’s the whole arm falling off again.
Nelson – There’s a bunch of things I have to work on before this thing is competition-ready.

The robot can also be remote-controlled through the so-called “TeleOp” phase Van Cise described. TeleOp is the communication system between a laptop computer and a Bluetooth receiver on the robot. There aren’t any wires connecting the controls and the machine. In the TeleOp competition, Mrs. Jones II drives around the competition area and scoops up balls.

But for senior Evan McArthur, the real satisfaction comes from watching Mrs. Jones II work independently.

“I think the autonomous is what really sets apart one team from another. If you can actually have your robot complete a goal — an objective — in that first 30 seconds, that says more about you than a team that can do stuff in the last two minutes. And it’s really about the programming, and that’s Tristan, and he’s a great programmer.”

McArthur, Van Cise, and Nelson all plan to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks next year, and continue the partnership they started in this classroom. Van Cise will study Computer Science, and McArthur and Nelson will become mechanical and electrical engineers respectively.

In all, six students worked on this project and they’re feeling a little giddy. Mrs. Jones I failed utterly during the first four rounds of the regional competition in Juneau. But after impromptu repairs, she worked brilliantly in the next four rounds, and the Wired Wolves took second place. Across the bridge, the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves have been at Robotics a little longer.

Now, all that’s left is a trip to Anchorage.

KCAW – Do you check your robot, or buy it a seat?
Team – We haven’t thought about it! I think we’re going to check it.
Team – I don’t want to check it — it could be damaged.
Team – Edgecumbe has these really nice boxes that they check theirs in. They’ve got foam.
Team – I don’t think we can put it on a seat?

There is no end to the details in the world of robotics. And for the record, after a few adjustments, Mrs. Jones II rocked — all on her own.

The Sitka School Board last night (Tue 1-7-14) approved spending $135,000 to begin design of an unusual project at the high school.

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What can you do with 8,000 square feet? Ask Randy Hughey, formerly Sitka’s high school wood shop teacher.

“A steel building, tall enough for us to build a small house on a trailer and take it out.”

Hughey has come out of retirement to oversee the construction of Sitka’s “Vocational Education Facility.” The city received $2.9-million in funding from the Department of Commerce for the structure in 2012. It’s hoped that Hughey can pull together all the threads to make the project happen in a year.

To jump-start things, Hughey told the school board that he and Sitka’s public works director, Michael Harmon, elected to seek bids from design-and-build contractors, rather than go through a more conventional process.

Hughey’s review committee selected the team McCool Carlson Green architects and CBC Construction. McCool Carlson Green was the creative force behind Pacific High; CBC was a local subcontractor for Sunland Development.

“The experience of this team is not as deep as some of the other experienced teams, but the structure that they provided was the most appealing for educational purposes. They gave us the best idea.”

Their idea is a large, useful building with four car lifts, a lot of garage doors, and a lot of room.

“There isn’t much fancy equipment in it. It’s just a big space with light, a modest amount of heat, and out of the weather so students can build a variety of things. The community is going to find this a good and useful space for so many things for a very long time. I think of all of the plays that we build sets for — you just need big spaces! There’s going to be a lot of good things happening in this building over the years.”

The structure will occupy space between the existing high school shops and the back gym — an area currently enclosed by chain link fence. Hughey says the building will primarily serve as work space. Although computer-aided-design and computer-controlled milling machines are playing a larger role in high school shop programs, Hughey says students still need to work with their hands.

“As educators, there’s this tension between having a computer run a torch to cut something out, versus the hand skill to do that. Because we cannot let go of that hand skill stuff yet all.”

Earlier in the meeting the school board recognized elementary school teacher Rebecca Himschoot, who had won a national teaching prize for Science. Hughey said Vocational teachers shared Himschoot’s goal of connecting with students.

“In the Career and Tech-Ed areas where kids get to build stuff, get the hands-on, engagement is easier to achieve. And if they can build real things, lasting things, things of value, things of beauty, things of usefulness — that engagement is all the higher.”

The school board voted unanimously to award the initial design to CBC Construction and McCool Carlson Green. Hughey anticipated that much of the construction could take place this summer and fall, and the building will open for classes by the beginning of the second semester next school year.

The 2013 Sitka High Lady Wolves. (Sitka High photo)

The Lady Wolves beat Ketchikan 7 to 6 on Saturday to claim their fourth consecutive state championship.

Coach Bob Potrzuski says winning has in no way become routine. Nevertheless, he’s not the kind of coach who runs out on the field to celebrate.

“That’s the girls’ time. I try to just back away and watch, and that’s the most fun. Just watching their excitement. Because they worked really, really hard for it.”

Potrzuski did have a special family moment. His daughter, senior Stefania (stuh- FAWN-yah) Potrzuski, has been on all four championship teams. She let the coach know he was appreciated.

“My daughter picked me out of the crowd after she was with her teammates for a little bit. And she came out and gave me a big hug. She was pretty pleased.”

The title game on Saturday was a nail-biter. The Lady Wolves scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the win. Potruzski says there’s no telling what might have happened had the game gone into extra innings.

He thinks his girls proved they were the best team in the state.

“We hit at 6 AM three days a week. And we practice until 6 PM at night. And it’s kind of a race, softball, because we start March 1 and we’re done June 1. It’s a relatively short season. The dedication that the girls put in this year just totally paid off.”

Dedication is one part of the Lady Wolves success, a deep reserve of talent is another. Potrzuski lost seven starters between 2011 and 2012, and lost five starters coming into this season.

Their team batting average was .401. There’s only one word for that.

“Which is ‘ridiculous,’” Potzruski said.

The Lady Wolves went 16-4 in the regular season, and were undefeated in four tournament games.

KCAW’s Ed Ronco contributed to this story.

Jason Gilliam, euphoniumist, and John DePalatis, Sitka High music director, played together for several years in the Tacoma Concert Band. Gilliam will perform tonight at 7 PM with the Sitka High Symphonic Band.