Skills center opens for school year

MOSES LAKE - The global health students at the newly-opened Columbia Basin Skills Center were trying to induce a chemical reaction to produce ionized (and super-heated) gases.

So that's what those grapes were for.

The Digipen class was talking about art. After all, while it's important to know the computer language used to build applications, it's impossible to build a video game (or any application) without graphics.

The skills center opened in June and hosted two summer sessions, but 2014-15 will be the first full school year. The skills center offers training to students in school districts in Grant and Adams counties.

The cut grapes go into the microwave for about 20 seconds. If it's done right the liquid in the grapes will turn to gas, then superheated gas. "It's supposed to shoot orange flames up," Tyree Shasteen, of Ephrata, said. Tyree and his lab partner Ryan Tosh, of Othello, didn't have any luck their first few attempts.

"It just bubbles up and foams," Tyree said.

Eventually Tyree and Ryan were successful. Harley Vanetta, of Ephrata, and Lizzy McGraw, of Moses Lake, kept experimenting. They had discovered it helped to elevate the grapes off the floor of the microwave.

And encouraging kids to find different ways to attack a problem was the rationale behind the exercise, global initiative instructor Sarah Hurst said.

Lizzy said she's thinking about a medical career, and a class in global medicine was one way to see if that's the direction for her. Ryan too is thinking of a medical career, maybe radiology, maybe as a physician, and this class will help him decide if it's the right career, he said.

Harley said she wants to be a physical therapist, and she thinks having a global perspective will help her career. Tyree said he's sure he's headed toward a medical career, and the class will help him decide his direction.

The hook in the Digipen classes is the training that can be used to make video games - and in fact kids in the summer classes made their own games. Sony Ramos, the only girl in the morning session, said that was one of the attractions. "I plan on making my own game someday. A really high-tech MMA (mixed martial arts)."

Sony moved back to Moses Lake over the summer and heard about the skills center classes when she went to register, she said. She wants to build video games someday, and wants to learn as much as she can, she said.

Jared Limbaugh said he's got an interest in programming, and his dad, like Sony's dad, is building his own video games.

The computer programming that builds the games can be applied to many other uses in other industries, said Digipen instructor Terri Pixlee. The C++ language that is the basis of Digipen "translates to so many other careers," Pixlee said.

The counselor at Moses Lake High School knew Limbaugh had an interest in programming and told him about the program, he said. Armando Dominguez heard about it from a friend. "I thought it was pretty cool," he said. "I'd love to make my own games," he said, but he wants to know more about programming and computers in general, he said.

Stefan Jojic is an exchange student for the school year, and his school back in Serbia had some programming equipment, but "this is different," he said. Pixlee said the equipment and training in the skills center lab is competitive with that found in 300 and 400 level college courses.

Ray Martin, of Moses Lake, took the summer course and had some knowledge of the program as a result. But the regular school class will allow him to learn more about coding and how it works, he said.

Hurst said the skills center is designed to show kids their options, wherever their interests lie. "Real life job skills," she said. It's more than the skills training, however. Teachers are working on attitude as well as content, she said, things like responsibility and respect, "the basic employee skills that are being looked for."