Students in the Logistics Department at the Gilbreath Reed Career and Technical Center gain an abundance of skills and expertise that help pave the way to college and/or employment after high school graduation.
Teacher Joe Gutierrez talked about some of the class topics. The students learn warehousing techniques and how to make a business flow. They use coordinates to calculate mileage which they use to figure shipping costs, including mileage for different transportation types. Logistics students work with students in the Culinary Department to determine the cost of their products, what they should charge and what the profit is. They also help with Culinary Department inventory. They do the same kind of things for the GRCTC student-run store and help find products that provide the best profit. The students have also learned about packaging and the best ways to get products shipped.
The students are also well-versed in the use of Microsoft Excel, which helps with some of the above tasks. After their first year in the class, they are able to operate a forklift and scissor lift and receive certifications for those skills.
“Next year they will be getting certifications through Apex, a firm where businesses go to see what is happening in logistics,” Gutierrez said.
He added that the students are hire-ready at graduation.
“I’m helping open these students’ eyes to their futures,” Gutierrez said. “Even if they didn’t want to go to college and want to be a truck driver, they can make $100,000 per year. They can make $180,000 if they get a master’s degree in logistics.”
He added that they already have an advantage over many other people.
“There are so many different jobs in the logistics world because logistics is a part of every business,” Gutierrez said. “These students will be able to manage a warehouse, operate a forklift or be a forklift trainer, make dollies and pallets, work in accounts payable and receivable, take care of invoicing and inventory control. There are too many jobs to name, thousands of things they can do.”
Gutierrez likes the GRCTC environment because it is about application. He added that the lessons are not just theoretical. They are needs-based and work-based and practical experience for the students.
“It’s more fun for them, too, because it is actual hands-on learning that they can apply at any time,” he said. “They aren’t held to a strict structure. I kind of treat it like it’s a job. There are specific goals and jobs and everyone does their job without me hounding them.”
The students are grateful to have the opportunity to attend the center.
“I like that we are always out and about, always busy,” George Hernandez said. “At my school, we are always in the classroom sitting down. Here [GRCTC] we learn things we can actually apply to our lives that will help us get a job.”
Jose Maldonado likes that he learns more interesting things at GRCTC.
“It really is like a college,” he said. “They give us things that we can use in the real world, actual job opportunities and internships and certifications that can help us get jobs immediately.”
Gilbert Sanchez likes that he gets to do a variety of things at GRCTC.
“It keeps you on your toes. I’m never board in this class,” he said. “It is less strict here. There is more free flow here and it’s fun.”
Maldonado added that he likes getting to know students from other schools.
“You get to get rid of all the biases that people have about different schools because you actually get to meet the people,” he said.
Hernandez and Maldonado attend South Garland High School and Sanchez goes to Garland High School.
Photos provided by GRCTC Logistics Department.