3925 Industrial Dr., St. Ann, MO
(314) 428-5900
By Douglas Wagganer
Some of the reader's may recognize my name from the recent articles I have been writing called "A Chinese-American Love Story". My continuing saga of adoption and the discovery of the Chinese culture for my new daughter will be related in several more future editions of this paper. I just wanted to let the Chinese community know a little about where I work, and offer anyone who is looking for some technical training a chance to receive the educational background they might be seeking in the St. Louis Area. 
Douglas Wagganer, Senior Computer Aided Drafting Instructor
By profession I am a Senior Computer Aided Drafting Instructor at a Technical College called "Vatterott
College". The school's campus is located in St. Ann, Missouri, along St. Charles Rock Road, at 3925 Industrial Dive. St. Ann is the main campus for Vatterott College, which now numbers seventeen Campuses in eight Midwestern States. The Computer Aided Drafting Program has been a very popular training program for Student's over the past several years. In this program we teach the student to make technical drawings or plans. These plans are the same types as used by both Architects and Engineers. They are the basis for all construction and manufacturing tasks throughout the world.
Our training begins with fundamentals in Drafting Standards, Board Drafting and the use of a Computer to make computerized drawings. By the use of computer graphics drawing software called "AutoCAD 2002", we give our students the latest up to date training skills in Drafting. In our approach to teaching the student, we attempt to work with the individual both one-on-one and also as a member of a classroom group.  
computer aided drafting classrooms
At the St. Ann Campus I try to give more to our students. Anyone with enough practice can master the drawing skills and obtain an entry-level job. On the St. Ann Campus we stress careers not jobs, so I have tried to develop a student who is more than just a Basic AutoCAD Drafter or Copy Work Person. Hopefully they will leave the training program with at least some Designer level skills. This philosophy should give each student even more marketable skills to offer an employer. If a student wants the most from his training we feel we are the place he has been looking for in a school.  
computer classrooms
Our program works in ten week sections, which we call phases. We have both 60-week Certificate Level and 90-week Associate Level Degree Certification Courses. I would like to invite anyone who might be interested in learning more about AutoCAD to contact me or come by the Vatterott College's St. Ann Campus. I would like to discuss what we have to offer in our program, and I can show you a few brief graphic demonstrations of AutoCAD work, as it is used in industry today. Even if you are not interested in attending your more than welcome to stop in for a visit.
If AutoCAD is not for you then maybe one of Vatterott's other training programs might be of an interest. At St. Ann we offer Certificate and Associate Level training in AutoCAD,
Computer Programming, Computer Technology (Repair), Welding, and Heating and Air Conditioning. Vatterott College also has a Bachelor Level program in "Computer Networking" for those wishing to supplement any current degrees you might possess. 
 
Vatterott College "heating and air conditioning" training facility
This might sound like an advertisement for
Vatterott
College, but it is not. I just believe in education. My life saw me working as a Municipal Police Officer for over 17 years in the St. Louis Area. I went back to school when I was 37 years old. It was a Technical School that taught Drafting, and a career change for me was possible. I now work less hours, make much better money, and have a career that was not possible only a few years before. If you want more for yourself and your future, it is never too late to start. Do not let your dreams ever go unfulfilled. Education is available for everyone in this country. I would love to share this dream, so that is why I wrote this for all my friends to read.
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