Recruiting diesel technology students hasn’t been a challenge for Washburn Institute of Technology, based in Topeka, Kansas.
“If I could get a bigger space, I could get 100 students,” said Clark Coco, Washburn. A former college basketball coach, Coco came up with the idea of using the college athlete recruitment model to recruit tech students. “We talk to as many students as possible and then rank them within the system to get the best 60 we can find. We sign them with a national letter of intent for technical education,” said Coco.
During the upcoming academic year he fully expects the school to have a waiting list. On Feb. 20, more than 431 students showed up for the first national signing day.
“The power of being wanted is an unbelievable recruiting tool,“ said Coco. “Students will make a much stronger commitment if they know if an institution has an investment in them and wants them.”
Coco says his team works hard at squashing the thought that going to a tech school is a poor second choice to college. Three recruiters work 16 local districts in Northeast Kansas to identify candidates. Washburn also changed the program name from Diesel Technology to Heavy Diesel Construction, feeling it was more marketable and descriptive.
The school worked with Case dealer Victor L. Phillips to get the diesel tech training in place last fall. “There’s a huge shortage of technicians,” said Bill Esterly, VLP vice president of product support. “One of the problems is that schools are teaching students on equipment and engines donated 10 to 15 years ago.”
To help alleviate that situation, Case Construction Equipment and VLP delivered more than $500,000 in equipment to the school.
