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Billings teacher -Robert Wennerberg- honored for high-tech changes

April 22, 2002 /

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He was really just doing his job, but someone – he doesn’t know who – nominated him
for an international award and gosh darn it if he didn’t win.

By JOHN FITZGERALD
Of The Gazette Staff

Robert Wennerberg, a technology teacher at Riverside Middle School, has received the
Program Excellence Award from the International Technology Education Association. The
award is the culmination of 10 years of improving and changing the technology curriculum
at Riverside.
Wennerberg has moved the classes away from the traditional metal and woodworking shop classes to
include computer technology and hands-on building techniques.
"We still do a little bit of welding and work with the cutting torch, but not as much as we used to do," he said.

Wennerberg uses three classrooms: the metalworking shop, the woodworking shop and, perhaps most
important, the computer lab. In the computer lab, he has set up 14 compute rs using a variety of programs that
run the gamut from word processing to Web-page design to Powerpoint to bridge-building applications.
"We’ve moved more from the industrial aspect to the technological aspect, where the kids have to use more
problem-solving skills," he says.
Wennerberg’s philosophy is to give the students a taste of a variety of topics, "and then, if they like it, they
can hit it at a vo-tech or at high school."
The class is required for seventh-graders. They get a quarter of computer education and a quarter of
technical education. The class is an elective for eighth-graders, who can work both in the shops and in the
computer lab.
"The tech classes are always packed," said Michael Smith, Riverside’s principal. "Kids are always seeking
to get into those classes."
Smith has his ideas about why the classes are so popular:
"They get to do a lot of hands-on things. Kids really get to dig in and understand not only how the computer
works itself but also how to use new programs and make them work.
"(Wennerberg) is always looking to add new programs and modify the ones he has developed. Any piece of
new technology, he’s the first to latch on to it and see how it works and then he reports back to the students and
faculty so the new programs just don’t sit in a closet somewhere."
Wennerberg has been instrumental with maintaining Riverside’s computer system.
School District 2 has computer specialists who travel to the different schools, "but we don’t need them
much here," Wennerberg said, noting, "If a teacher has a problem with his computer, we can usually handle it
within the building."
Wennerberg and his wife, Kristin, nearly didn’t make it to the awards presentation for his international
honor. En route to Columbus, Ohio, their plane was delayed in Minneapolis by a snowstorm.
"We actually missed the awards ceremony," Wennerberg said. "But then the next day at a luncheon, they
called me and my wife up to the front and gave me the award there."
While Wennerberg is proud of the award, he said it should go to all the technology teachers in the district
and in the state. They have their own association – the Technical Educators Association of Montana – and
communicate freely among themselves.
"We share e-mail addresses and have a newsletter," Wennerberg said. "We give out statewide technology
awards to students. I couldn’t have survived the first couple of years without them."
The educators try to mentor new technology teachers and help them adjust to the demands of the job.
Wennerberg served two years in the Army and attended college on the GI Bill. He has served 16 years in
the Army National Guard and is a staff sergeant.
"If anyone needs help in the school, you can always call on him," Smith said. "His ability to work with others
is very evident.
"He’s an all-around great guy."