In late October smashed pumpkins and weird wooden catapults littered the football field. It is a confusing sight, but really it is just Engineering Tech Teacher, Jim Walbeck, and his engineering students conducting one of their many unique projects.
Walbeck has been teaching in the district for 26 years and has worked hard to seek out engineering opportunities for his students.
After graduating from Kent State University with a bachelors in science, Walbeck entered into the manufacturing world for seven years.
“I worked at a consumer electronics company in Twinsberg called Sports Sciences. It doesn’t exist anymore; it ran out of money. And then after that company shut down, I worked for a chemical company called U.S. Chemical and Plastics in Massillon,” Walbeck said.
During his time at Sports Sciences, Walbeck helped manufacture a game called PC Golf, a system called Pro Swing, and a system called Batter Up. Unfortunately, his job at U.S. Chemical and Plastics was just not matching the cool projects he had done at Sports Sciences. This led Walbeck to teaching.
“Actually my wife was the one that said, ‘Hey there is an engineering teacher opening at GlenOak’, I looked into it, I interviewed, and here I am. This is my 26th year teaching engineering,” Walbeck said.
Walbeck also coached softball for four years, football for eighth and ninth grades, and is currently the president of the Plain Local Teachers Association.
Walbeck feels engineering provides a fun class that kids can learn in an unconventional classroom setting. Projects senior year consist of derby cars, pumpkin chunkin, rockets and so much more. Along with these projects, students get to go on industry trips and college visits to help them in their future.
“We are going to an apprenticeship opening here coming up next week, which should be exciting for students to learn about some different careers that aren’t necessarily truly engineering related, but in similar aspects,” Walbeck said.
Walbeck receives the most joy from his job when he hears from old students.
“To hear students when they come back and tell me what they are doing and their success stories, even if they change their majors,” Walbeck said.
