St. Croix Electric Cooperative’s storage of conduit (tubes used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or structure) has become more compact and efficient thanks to a collaboration between SCEC leadership and a group of students – and their teacher – from Hudson High School.
When he was visiting another co-op in late 2019, some vertical storage racks caught Operations Manager Rob Dooley’s eye: “We had our conduit stored in three different places and all horizontally, taking up a lot of space. I knew something like this could save a lot of space and be much more convenient.”
He snapped a few photos and over the next couple months scoured the internet trying to find the racks – or something similar – with no luck. He finally called the warehouseman at the other co-op (Cooperative Principle #6 is Cooperation Among Cooperatives) and found out the racks were custom-made by a local welder. When SCEC President/CEO Brian Zelenak heard of his operations manager’s pursuit he knew the solution: Raider Works, a student-run school-based enterprise at Hudson High School that focuses on construction and manufacturing work done in-District and for local businesses.
SCEC’s chief executive officer had heard from his sons about the real-life projects they worked on as part of a technical education class at HHS: “Instead of just saying ‘Here, weld these two pieces of pipe together,’ they were building real equipment.” Around the time students were returning to in-person learning, Zelenak contacted technical education teacher Tom Klatt – who is not only one of the two Raider Works advisors (the other is Aaron Haskins) but is also the son of longtime SCEC District 7 Director Fran Klatt.
“The kids were eager to work on a real‐life project for a local company,” said the younger Klatt, who is himself a member of SCEC. “It was not a complicated project, but it involved cutting, bending and welding angle iron and tubing.”
After Klatt and his students drew up plans and came up with a list of needed supplies, Zelenak visited a local steel supplier and delivered them to Raider Works. Within two weeks, the project was complete with five students working together one hour per day and a few coming in during study halls and advisory (15 hours total).
“This project and many like it here at school are hands-on experiences where students learn by doing projects for others. The pride of building something a business is willing to buy far surpasses any grade they could receive in a class,” Klatt said. “These students have been learning how to work with customers one-on-one, order materials, read blueprints, weld, paint and gained OSHA 10 Certification.”
Project Foreman Will Zelenak said the project was like none other he’d worked on before: “I haven’t worked on a project this size before. We really need to measure and check to keep it square multiple times. With a big project like this it is amazing how being just a fraction of an inch off can grow over 8 or 9 feet.”
Zelenak was joined on the crew by fellow welder/fabricators Dominic Carlberg, Isaac Scott and Bryce Schindler and painter Gabe Dougherty, who also took on the role of quality assurance.
The finished product is just what he was looking for, Operations Manager Dooley said: “The quality is excellent, and we now have a much more compact and efficient storage for our conduit.”