Students now have permanent training space

By Bert Lehman

The Clintonville campus of Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) now has a permanent nursing assistant lab.

Up until now the nursing assistant lab shared the same space as the conference room.

“If we needed it as a conference room, we’d move all of the equipment out and use it as a conference room, and then move all the equipment back when we needed to use it for the nursing lab again,” said Kim Manteuffel, Fox Valley Technical College Clintonville regional manager.

To alleviate that problem, the student lounge and an office were remodeled to create a new nursing assistant lab.

“We took some office space out and opened it up so that the students would have the appropriate space that they needed,” Manteuffel said. “We also brought in the Smart Board and IdeaPaint, which is something that our main campus has been using for a couple of years.”

Beginning in the middle of December and ending on Jan. 18, the renovations took just over a month to complete.

“We updated everything,” Manteuffel said. “We brought in all new equipment and made it usable for 12 individuals to come here and train as nursing assistants.”

One thing the permanent lab has that was unavailable when the lab shared space with the conference room is tracks for privacy screens.

Mantueffel said a lot of high school students use the program because it provides good job opportunities for them.

“It’s also a requirement to get into nursing, so you need to become a CNA first,” she added.

So students still have a space to hangout in, a new student lounge was created near the entrance of the building. This will also allow FVTC staff to interact more with students.

“We really want to be able to interact with them more and talk to them more,” Mantueffel said. “By moving it (student lounge) up front it will be more visible.”

Mantueffel said the renovations have received positive reviews by those who have seen them so far.

An open house is scheduled be held on Tuesday, Feb. 23 from 4 to 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.