Empowering students to build more than structures

He’s handed families the keys to their first home. He’s led mission work in Guatemala.

But for Eric Schramm (‘09), nothing compares to the feeling of watching former students find success – and knowing he somehow played a part in it.

Schramm is an architectural design and building construction instructor at Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, S.D. He is originally from North Platte, which is where his love for the building trades developed and where he became inspired to pursue his current career path. “I had a very strong mentor at North Platte High School,” said Schramm. “Butch Lehmkuhler was my shop teacher, and he’s the one who really got me excited about the field I chose. He was a very positive person and never played into the stigma of a blue-collar worker. He looked at success as being happy as a person and doing what you want to do. My time with him was a huge turning point in my life. I decided I wanted to have an impact on people they way he had an impact on me.” Schramm graduated from NPHS in 2008 and subsequently enrolled in Mid-Plains Community College – just across town. He was familiar with MPCC because of the numerous dual credit classes he had taken through the college while still in high school and the SkillsUSA applied technology competitions he had participated in on campus. The scholarships he won through SkillsUSA, as well as others he earned to attend Mid-Plains, also had a huge impact on his decision to attend MPCC. “It just made sense,” Schramm said. “I originally wanted to go straight to a fouryear college or university for elementary education, but couldn’t fathom paying for school when I had scholarships to MPCC.” Instead, he set his sights on building construction.

Eric Schramm’s students stand by a home they built for an impoverished family in Guatemala as part of a mission trip.

“...I REALIZED MY REAL ROOTS WERE IN EDUCATION AND THAT I COULD COMBINE MY DREAM OF BEING A TEACHER WITH MY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION SKILLS AND TEACH FOR AN INDUSTRY THAT I TRULY DO LOVE.”

“I like working with my hands,” Schramm said. “I enjoy starting with nothing and seeing an end product. I also like seeing the satisfaction of the people I’m building for.” Schramm was in MPCC’s building construction program the final year that a one-year option was offered. He graduated from Mid-Plains in 2009 then transferred to South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. to pursue a degree in construction management. “That lasted a semester until I realized my real roots were in education and that I could combine my dream of being a teacher with my building construction skills and teach for an industry that I truly do love,” Schramm said. “I could help other young adults find their passion in the trades.” Schramm graduated from SDSU in December of 2012 with a teaching degree in career and technical education. Two days later, he began teaching building construction at the McCrossan Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls, S.D. “McCrossan is a non-profit organization that helps about 70 troubled boys year-round,” Schramm said. “I worked with a lot of kids who had been in and out of the system and were really in need of a strong role model. It was definitely a different dynamic, but vital in helping me become the teacher I am today.” By the time he left the ranch, two years later, Schramm was also teaching middle school math and science. His next challenge came in the form of restarting an architecture and construction program at Mitchell High School in Mitchell, S.D. “I worked closely with the state to use grant money to equip a shop and get the program rolling again,” Schramm said. “I think any college instructor should experience the high school side of education to get a feel for why students act the way they do and to help them understand why students make certain decisions in picking a college.” Once they are in college, Schramm believes it’s just as important for the students to learn the soft skills and business side of building construction as it is to master the technical skills. The students he teaches at Mitchell Technical Institute are responsible for drafting, building a house from start to finish using the drafted specifications, pouring a basement, creating a foundation, then moving the house onto the foundation and completing the finish work.

Eric Schramm’s students attended the SkillsUSA national conference in Louisville, Ky. this past summer. They placed fourth in the competition.

They do a six-week internship in the summer and work with an industry partner, Morton Buildings, to create two 26 by 30-foot pole sheds. They are active in SkillsUSA, thanks in part to the fact that Schramm is South Dakota’s SkillsUSA board of directors president. Schramm’s students also make a point to give back. This year over spring break, he took nine of them and an alum to Guatemala where they spent a week building a home for an impoverished family as part of a mission project. The students had to raise $35,000 for the trip and materials, which they did by collaborating with the college’s foundation office and other departments. “The foundation office gave them some tips about asking for money, and the English department taught them the writing skills they needed to write letters to potential sponsors,” Schramm said. “The kids learned an enormous amount about themselves throughout the experience. We went to Central America to help a family, but the real growth happened in my students.” Schramm credits MPCC for a good educational basis and for providing him with an understanding of how to best influence individual students. “Not all students are the same,” Schramm said. “I wasn’t the same as the kids down the aisle from me, but through that, I picked up on how I can be the best educator possible by being available to those students and explaining a technique in a variety of ways so that everyone can understand it and be successful.” Some of his students have gone on to become draftsmen and carpenters while others are on a fast-track to becoming superintendents running multi-million dollar jobs. “I try not to pigeonhole my students into any particular area and instead play into their strengths,” Schramm said. “No matter what they choose to do, I want them to know they are the creators of their own paths and hold the keys to their own destinies. If they put in the hard work and effort, anything is attainable.”