KLH Receives Friend of Education Award

On April 8th, KLH Industries was honored as the recipient of the state superintendent's Business Friends of Education Award. Presented during the 75th annual Wisconsin Association for Career and Technical Education Conference, the awards recognize ten Wisconsin businesses that partner with local schools to develop careers opportunities.

For the past six years, KLH has enthusiastically partnered with Germantown High School's BotsIQ program. Offering financial resources, materials, design assistance, machining services, and work space for the team. Under the guidance of Germantown Tech Ed teacher Joe Rintelman, KLH assisted in a variety of student-built robots, including GT Destroyer, Flippinstien, Iron Man, Disorderly Conduct, and the Spring 2011 champion, Night Raven.

As Rintelman explains, it is "critical for manufacturers and businesses to take an active role in education. Looking ahead teachers and students will come to rely even more heavily on private industry for support and guidance. KLH has set a fantastic example on how to be an actively involved business."

Employees who worked with these students soon found their passion and creativity contagious. It wasn't long before several KLH employees designed and built Spin Psycle, a two-wheeled "spinner" robot to compete in the businesses' tournament. Although Spin Psycle could perform two revolutions per second, it couldn't take the punishment in the ring, and was retired in 2009.

KLH continues to happily support Germantown High School and the BotsIQ program. KLH is proud of the employees who are willing to volunteer their time to support the program. Lead by Operations Manager Joe Mingari, who serves on the BotsIQ Competition Committee, several KLH employees volunteered their free time for the April 16th event at Discovery World in Milwaukee.

Behind the scenes of each competition, there are between 30-40 volunteers from community and business - almost as many volunteers as students. KLH is proud to employ BotsIQ volunteers that participate in all aspects of the competition - as referees, pit runners, timekeepers, security, and even crowd control.

"Ken [Heins, CEO/President,] and his associates at KLH industries have a passion for career and technical education and they demonstrate that passion through their actions," says Rintelman. "Ken and the KLH Team are tremendously deserving of this award."