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R-Tech Tool and Machine Establishes Endowed Scholarship Fund with Wamego Community Foundation - December 19, 2008
(Dec. 19, 2008) Wamego, KS — R-Tech Tool and Machine Inc. has established an endowed scholarship fund with the Wamego Community Foundation. The first scholarship, which will be awarded in 2009, will be worth approximately $250 and will be available to a Wamego High School graduating senior.
“We established the fund with the Foundation to assist students of Wamego High School further their education in the field of metal fabrication,” said Doug Routh, owner of R-Tech, “which includes welding, machine tool, tool and die, and CAD-CAM technology. These are all areas of expertise that R-Tech—as well as other manufacturing companies in the state—look for when hiring employees.”
Routh, who founded R-Tech in July 1993, is a 1981 graduate of Salina Area Technical College, where he studied Machine Tool Technology.
“I strongly believe in helping our youth further their education, especially in the area of vocational schooling,” Routh continued, “as that is where I received my training. R-Tech now operates one of the largest machining centers of its kind in the United States, which speaks volumes about the vocational training I received.”
According to René Eichem, executive director of the Foundation, people in metal fabrication professions can be assured of excellent job security in today’s high tech, global economy.
“Since graduates in the machine tool trades are in high demand, the incomes can range from $18,000 to $60,000 per year,” Eichem said, “with Tool and Die Makers at the top end. Since most of these skilled trades require people to create tooling or finished product using advanced technology and their own creativity, these professions can be both personally and economically rewarding.”
Machine tool technology programs generally prepare people for employment by providing them with practical work experience in shop safety, engine lathe, milling machine, grinding, cutting, and drill press operations, Routh said. Training is also provided in blueprint reading, related math, feeds and speeds, precision measurement, hand tools, cutting tools, abrasive, and metallurgy.
“We are thrilled that R-Tech Tool and Machines has established an endowed scholarship with the Foundation,” Eichem said. “Because endowed funds exist in perpetuity, R-Tech has effectively ensured that at least one scholarship will be given to a student every year— for eternity.”
For more information about the R-Tech Tool and Machine Scholarship Fund, visit the Foundation website at www.thewcf.org. For more information about R-Tech, visit www.rtechtools.com.
About the Wamego Community Foundation
The Wamego Community Foundation was established in 1998 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. It created an efficient mechanism through which individuals, families, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and private foundations have been able to create funds and make gifts to benefit Wamego and surrounding communities. Since its inception, the Foundation has received approximately $1.2 million in gifts and donations and has distributed back more than $500,000 to the community, including the river access boat ramp, scholarships, the Wam-Sag-Man recreation trail, and the Wamego City Park Train Enhancement Project, just to name a few.
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For more information, please contact:
René Eichem, executive director
Wamego Community Foundation
529 Lincoln Ave. | P.O. Box 25
Wamego, KS 66547
P: 785-456-8444 | F: 785-456-8443
wcf@wamego.net | http://www.thewcf.org
| Wamego Community Foundation • PO Box 25 • Wamego KS 66547 • P: 785-456-8444 • F: 785-456-8443 • E-mail |