Reinke Manufacturing, Inc., announces that Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Wash., will now offer a one-year Electrical Mechanized Irrigation Technology (Center Pivot) Certificate of Achievement Program as part of its curriculum beginning fall, 2010. Reinke has worked closely with BBCC in past months to help envision and design the program and continues to work with the college on training materials and lab equipment.
The one-year Electrical Mechanized Irrigation Technology Certificate of Achievement Program will be a 48-credit program designed to prepare students for an entry-level service position and will focus mostly on the electrical aspect of training.
In addition to the one-year program, a two-year Electrical Mechanized Irrigation Technology Associate in Applied Science Degree Program is currently being developed. This program will give students a wide range of training, including classes focused on electronics and advanced technology.
Promoting irrigation technology education is an ongoing effort for Reinke. The company worked with Northeast Community College (NECC) in Norfolk, Neb., to further develop its irrigation technology program, helping to provide a new Reinke Electrogator II center pivot with a RPM Advanced Panel and end-of-system Navigator GPS guidance capabilities for student hands-on training. Reinke further assisted NECC faculty with curriculum and course materials.
Reinke also works with its dealers to provide tuition opportunities for students or current Reinke dealership employees who wish to attend the irrigation technology programs at BBCC or NECC. Should Reinke dealers wish to sponsor a student or employee for one of the programs, Reinke will match that dealer contribution, up to $1,000 per year, in the form of tuition reimbursement. Students of the program must follow a set of sponsorship criteria in order to qualify for the assistance.