Arlan Penner, industrial arts teacher at McPherson High School, was named the 2007 affiliate winner of the Teacher of the Year award from the Kansas Association of Career and Technical Education (K-ACTE). The awards ceremony took place during the summer conference of the K-ACTE on Aug. 6.

Penner has been the carpentry technology teacher at MHS since 1999. Prior to joining the staff at MHS, he was the Construction Education instructor at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. In addition to his teaching duties, Penner has been owner of Penner Remodeling in Hutchinson since 1979.

Penner has been a member of K-ACTE and the Kansas Industrial Educators Association since 1999. During this time, he has attended every summer conference that has been held. He also was a facilitator at the 2005 conference and held certification classes for construction educators in Kansas.

Penner was named the SkillsUSA Advisor of the Year for 2007, which was presented at the Kansas Championships in Wichita. He has been involved in SkillsUSA since 1995, first as a judge and now as an advisor. His students have won the carpentry skills contest five years in a row. In addition, the gold medal winners from MHS carpentry have gone on to nationals.

Penner is a Certified Master Trainer with the National Center for Construction Education Research. As a Master Trainer, the Kansas State Department of Education has him certify the construction teachers and administrators in Kansas as Certified Craft Instructors to make sure that the instructors comply with requirements from the federal government.

The Carpentry Technology Program at MHS was given the status of Exemplary Program of 2003 by the Kansas State Board of Education. Since Penner joined the staff at MHS, the program has grown from 32 students to a current enrollment of 111. Students are allowed to take the program up to three years and each year a house is built by the students. He also encourages college connections by sponsoring exploration trips to Kansas State University and Pittsburg State University. Several graduates of the MHS program have gone on to become craftsmen or attend universities to become engineers, project managers and architects.

Penner was also honored at Monday's USD 418 Board of Education meeting for the K-ACTE award.

McPherson Unified School District 418
514 N. Main
McPherson, KS 67460
620-241-9400
It is the policy of McPherson USD 418 not to discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race,
religion, color, age, or national origin in its educational programs and/or activities, nor in its employment practices.

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