TekNoXpo

At Montana State University-Northern's annual TekNoXpo, Kiewit Corp. announced they are giving $250,000 to the university's planned Automotive-Diesel Technology Center.

Keith Sasich, the vice president of Kiewit, spoke at a press conference Thursday.

"We're really excited about the new facility you're building for the auto-diesel technology group," Sasich said. "In our industry, we see a lot of opportunity for folks in that area and we think this is going to be a great facility. It's going to be great for the students, and realistically, we think it'll be great for the industry, and we hope that you graduate 500 students a year."

Once the construction of the new building is complete, the program will be able to expand how many students it can handle at a time.

"We would hope that Kiewit could get a couple of those students to come and work for us when it's all said and done," Sasich said. "We're just really proud to involved with MSU-Northern."

The Kiewit Corporation is a Fortune 500 contractor and one of the largest mining, construction and engineering companies that has offices and contracts around the world.

"Kiewit representatives have sat on the diesel advisory board since its inception, and in that capacity, have helped us build our nationally known 'Supertech' program," MSU-Northern Interim Chancellor Greg Kegel said in a press release. "Kiewit provided guidance to the addition of the very successful equipment management option in our four-year diesel degree, and they were instrumental in starting the annual TechNoXpo event that is happening today."

The Seventh Annual TekNoXpo is a series of events organized by the College of Technical Sciences and puts an emphasis on the agriculture and automotive technology, construction careers technology, diesel technology and nursing programs at MSU-Northern.

"It's an event we put on for high schoolers to learn about the College of Technical Science here in Havre, Montana," said Krysta Posalski, a MSU-Northern worker who was helping instruct of the students about the bioenergy center.

The junior and senior high school student were able to take part in many events on campus, including tours of the various programs in the College of Technical Sciences and the Equipment Rodeo, in which students could operate skid-steers to move loads from one end of a parking lot to the other. Large farm equipment was also brought out on campus for students to learn about and explore. An excavator simulator where a student can sit in a mock-cabin of an excavator and watch a screen to control big virtual equipment was also available for students to practice their operations on.

Montana Lt. Gov. Angela McLean spoke to the students gathered outside the Applied Technology Building for lunch.

"Students, you are the future of this community, of this state and of this great nation," McLean said. " ... Today's conversation is about making sure that you are trained to meet the job demands of tomorrow."

McLean praised the work the Kegel has been doing for the university.

"Folks, this is not by accident that these folks have come from as close as Wyoming, but as far as New Mexico and Texas to invest in the community, to invest in this opportunity for you and for your future," McLean said. "They are hiring at a very rapid pace and when you graduate from this institution and this program, you are 99.999 percent guaranteed that you will get a job. There is no better opportunity greater than that, my friends."

She said that these opportunities are not by chance - they are by design, created from the work that the faculty and staff of MSU-Northern have put into the programs the institution offers.