March 26, 2026 • 19 mins
Superintendent Dr. William Sprankles discusses the more than 120 career and technical programs offered to Butler County students and adults who want to get the certifications and education needed to become and stay competitive in today's ever-changing career landscape.
Butler County and Miami University's Partnership
Meet Dr. William Sprankles, Superintendent
Adult Education Programs - Butler Tech
Adult Education: 513-645-8200
Central Office: 513-868-1911
3605 Hamilton Middletown Rd
Fairfield Township, OH 45011
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This week on iHeart Cinci, It's all fun and games
until someone gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, that fact of life occurs every day, and the
Comprehensive Children's Injury Center, a part of Cincinnati Children's Medical Center,
works every day to help patients and parents navigate the
injuries large and small. Today, the program manager, Stephanie Lyons,
explains how her team helps families stay safe. We work
to reduce unintentional injuries that happen in the community.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Our goal is.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
To not have kids get hurt so that they don't
have to come see us in the emergency.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Rooms and later In many cases, they would perceived to
be lesser than opportunities for lesser than students.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
This isn't your mom's old vocational school.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
With over one hundred and twenty program certificates and credentials,
Butler Tech is growing, opening new high school campuses and
specialized career tech fields that pay great when they graduate
and they're vital to our future. Today's superintended about Doctor
William Sprinkles is here to talk about the exciting and
unique opportunities for Butler County students and any adult who
(01:07):
wants to get trained for the future.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins. Welcome back to
iHeart Cincy.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This is Sandy Collins with my special guest today, the
superintendent of Butler Tech Schools, William Sprinkles, Doctor William Sprinkles,
their doctor, welcome to be on the show. When they
told me that mister William Sprinkles from Butler Tech was
available for iHeart Sinsey, I envisioned a little old man
from you know, mister Sprankles, like Carl Fridgertson, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But you are far from it.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You are a modern, energized, creative, enthusiastic educator in our
system and I think everyone knows it that's associated with you,
and I'm just getting to meet you. So tell me
a little bit about Butler Tech and the programs that
you have out there, but not only just for Butler
County students, but also for a you have adult education program,
(02:01):
and tell me about your job as CEO and superintendent
out there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Sure, so thank you for that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
The easiest way to explain Butler Tech to people that
might not know about Butler Tech is one We specialize
in career technical education and we have a variety of
different divisions or different categories that we reach students. We
have six high school campuses that are scattered across Butler County.
Those campuses include a medical campus called the Bioscience Center,
(02:28):
which is located off of seventy five North and South.
We have a Natural Science Center which is up by
the Monroe Outlets. We have our traditional high school campus
which has two buildings on it's called d.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Russell Lee and our School of the Arts.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And then we have two brand new campuses that are
just opening, which is an aviation high school located on
the Middletown Runway.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And then we have.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Another campus called am HUB which stands for Advanced Manufacturing
Hub that is also a brand new high school in
partnership with Miami University that is located in the city
of Hamilton on the former Miami Regional Campus location.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I did want to talk to you a little bit
about career tech or vocational, which is what I went through.
They're the vocational program was for students who couldn't achieve
anything in academics. What you have done in Butler County
and in the industry of career technical education to elevate
it to helping out an entire part of the workforce
(03:25):
that is just needing so many people and there's not
enough people there to do those jobs and their high paying,
good pin jobs. Tell me a little bit more about
how you approached career and technical education and why you're
so passionate about it.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Sure, so, the word that you use was elevate, and
there's this idea that you are accurate. There is an
era of time in our country where in the eighties
and early nineties, some even to the early two thousands,
students were forced, sent or persuaded to go to career
tech centers. Not in all cases, but in many cases
they were perceived to be lesser than opportunities for lesser
(04:00):
than students.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And most career tech teachers have been doing.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It right all along, and it just took a little
while to figure that out. For our country to shift
back to building to connecting career tech centers to our
countries need to have a boom in economic and talent
development pipelines. In butter Tech's particular situation for the last
fifteen years, in particular the last ten years as a
concentrated focus, we've really done a couple of things. One,
(04:26):
we've expanded the number of programs that we provide to
young people. So some people in our country may think
career tech just was autoshop and auto mechanics, the old
shop experience. We offer everything from biomedical engineering, to exercise science,
to aviation, to mechatronics, to standard engineering, and we offer
traditional in demand fields also such as construction, electrical cosmetology.
(04:50):
The list goes on and on. There's thirty five of
those programs that we offer. And what makes the Butler
Tech experience is a couple of things that we pride
ourselves on.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
One is the foundation of that experiences.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We hire the best people in the country, and no
matter what cre tech is intended to do, it won't
achieve its outcome if you don't hire the right teachers.
After hiring the right teachers, there is a particular experience
we want young people to have and most times that
experience includes a lot of frequent hands on education, and
a lot of frequent hands on problem solving, and a
lot of frequent hands on creation of things in their industry.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So it's not just consuming content.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
We want young people producing, creating and solving things for industry.
The second thing that we believe in is, in addition
to strong relationships in addition to strong hands on experiences,
we believe at Botech that all young people need to
have an elevated voice in the classroom. They are not
there to simply consume information and just be talked at
or talked to.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
We believe that this is a.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Day and age where young people need to have an
active voice in their classroom, an active voice in their community,
and eventually and hopefully an active voice in the companies
that they matriculate to go on to work for. We
want young people to feel empowered. We expect there to
be leadership roles in every single classroom that we have.
Majority of our classrooms have students student ambassadors that are
going to greet you when you enter. All students are
(06:09):
expected to know how to do business handshakes. We have
shark tank pitches occurring across our entire ecosystem. We have
an entrepreneurship center where students are creating products and processes
for the industries in which they're studying to hopefully transform
those experiences for our country down the road.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And we're trying to make.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It as active and as involved and as collaborative and
as hands on as possible, which is in many cases,
while my social experiences in my high school experience were fantastic.
Some of my educational experiences were pretty boring.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You have a training program specifically for people who want
to just go right into the workforce.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Can you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
There's a team of people inside our organization that have
kind of described this as a highway think of two
seventy five with multiple on ramps and off ramps. How
it was explained to me by other thought leaders in
our organization becomes easy for me to explain to other
people is when you join a particular pathway at Butler Tech,
the goal is to never box in your opportunities, but
(07:09):
instead expand the opportunities to have more than one. Think
of a program with twenty five students in it. Twelve
of those students may want to go right into the workforce.
We're going to provide them with the industry recognized credentials
to be competitive entry level employees and the skill sets
to go right into the workforce, keep themselves out of debt,
food on the table for their family, and make a
great living.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And what areas of those just three or four?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
So in all of our pathways, so, for example, the
electrical pathway, which is brand new for us. In our
engineering pathway, there are jobs right now in the Greater
Cincinnati area that take students right out of high school.
We have students that are in demand with multiple career fields.
We have students in the labs that you already mentioned,
both cosmetology and auto mechanics that are going right into
the workforce today. We have other labs such as digital media,
(07:55):
which is where you work at in this particular studio.
We have students graduating from our Digital Media pathway with
a variety of industry recognized credentials to be highly competitive
entry level employees in fields such as digital media. We
have dozens of students in the healthcare industry that are
graduating with entry level healthcare recognize credentials such as their
(08:15):
st and a phlebotomy and other industry recognized certificates that'll
get them a kickstart or an entry level job in
a healthcare related field so they can start working at
long term care facilities and entry level nursing facilities and
eventually get advanced certificates and or advanced degrees, but do
it by staying debt free. That's the goal is to
keep students debt free as much as possible while working
(08:37):
their way through a series of advanced credentials and advanced degrees.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
My guest today here on iHeart Cincy is doctor William Sprinkles.
He's the CEO of Butler Tech and has been talking
this morning about all of the amazing programs that they
now offer in their Career Tech program, their new advanced
Manufacturing workforce and innovation hub that they're opening up, which
is a huge initiative with Miami University and all the
(09:02):
other opportunities. So William, can you tell me a little
bit about the fees and what it would cost.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
A student to go through the career tech programs?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
There's none. Butler Tech is a public high school. We
are a public high school and a public school of choice.
We partner with all eleven of the public school districts
in Butler County as well as the Northwest School District
in Hamilton County. Those students have direct access to Butler
Tech's programs and campuses.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We also send out over one hundred twenty.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Five called satellite teachers, where we have engineering teachers, healthcare teachers,
et cetera inside those other schools. So families that don't
want to send their student to a Butler Tech campus,
but they still want to take advantage of a career
technical opportunity. Those opportunities exist inside of Coleraine High School,
they exist inside of Middletown High School, inside of Fairfield
(09:53):
High School, and so on.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I'm not going to name all the high schools, but
earlier in the segment.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You asked me about our mom and I only told
you about our campuses.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
We have six campuses.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
We have one hundred and twenty five teachers that work
in forty five other buildings around Butler County and Northwest
School District where we provide very specific career technical programs.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I say all that to answer your question.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
None of the industry credentials that students need to get
they have to pay for. We pay for all of
them as part of our operational model. So what that
means is, whether it's an industry credential in healthcare, whether
it's an industry credential in engineering, in auto mechanics and
cosmetology and welding, we cover the cost of that through
the educational state dollars and the taxpayer model.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
That's all covered.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And of course when you get to the collegiate level
or the adult educational level. You do have to pay
for that, but our adult Education Pathway and our Adult
Education Division, we pride ourselves on reaching over twenty two
thousand adult learners a year. We have the largest and
the fastest growing adult technical center in the state of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
The prices are extremely competitive.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
There's also financial aid for adult adults that qualify for
financial aid at the adult level in the same way
that adults would qualify for grants or scholarships at the
collegiate level. They can apply the same financial aid and
take it to an adult career technical education center like
Butler Tech and access programs that you get industry credentials
in a shorter amount of time. The companies say, we
(11:19):
don't really care about particular degrees, we care about these credentials.
They get you immediately employed and get you a competitive wage.
So a lot of people that come to our adult
education pathways, we experience our people that are rebuilding their
adult life, they're rebuilding their adult identities, they're rebuilding their
adult opportunities.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And then we get some people that do.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
It right after high school because they didn't take advantage
of it during high school.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
What does the future look like here with all of
the construction and all of the innovation with technology that
we're all hearing about.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
What are you seeing in southwest Ohio?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Southwest Ohio has some very specific industries that are reflections
of the state of Ohio. Because Cincinnati and the Butler County,
even the Dayton area, we're an epicenter for a reflection
of what's happening in Ohio.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So the first one is healthcare.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Anybody that's seeking a profession in healthcare, those jobs are
in demand on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Of healthcare for the next ten or fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So we have a variety of different healthcare programs in
our secondary pathways and our education pathways, and we have
hundreds of students that apply. We're doing our best to
fill students in every single seat possible, and we're doing
our best to expand our campuses. So to answer your question,
our current Bioscience center, which normally hosts or seats or
provides seats the three hundred and fifty students. Next month
(12:41):
we're doing a ribbon cutting on that facility where blowing
size of it. We're taking three hundred and fifty more
students to have seven hundred students per year there, and
then we're also opening the doors of that campus to
start taking evening classes for adult education campuses. And we
also have a current adult education campus at the top
of Route four at Thesordesville location that are Bettie takes
evening and daytime adult education learners strictly in healthcare. So
(13:04):
we see healthcare, to your question, as one of the
most booming in demand industries not only in the state
of Ohio, not only in the country, but definitely in
the greater Cincinnati area. And we have dozens of high
level partnerships with medical offices and hospitals and other providers
that allow our students to do their internships and clinicals
and co ops there which allow for high level experiences.
(13:26):
Second part of your answer is two other fields that
are really in demand is advanced manufacturing and engineering. Ohio,
if I'm not mistaken, is the second largest state in
the country in the advanced manufacturing workforce behind California. California
only beats us out because they're quadruple us in physical size.
In regards to actual capital ratio or propensity of advanced
(13:50):
manufacturing jobs, Ohio is going to be at the top
of the list in this country. We have a super
progressive workforce of hundreds of companies in the greater Cincinnati
area that are part of that workforce coalition of advanced
manufacturing industries.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And what are those What are those companies?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
What is advanced manufacturing?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So advanced manufacturing is the intersection of a variety of
different pathways that used to be siloed. So, for example,
you might refer to it as welding meets the intersection
with precision machining meets the intersection of information technology meets
with the intersection of engineering. We're going to see a
lot of automation. We're going to see a lot of
work committed to the Department of Defense. We're going to
(14:31):
see a lot of production around parts and equipment and
things that are necessary to make the rest of this
country work. And Cincinnati is a hub for those particular companies.
What's important about brother Tech is not only do we
consider ourselves to be a pipeline to get students into
the talent pool with those companies. We're super grateful for
(14:52):
dozens of companies. I would be mistaken to try to
name them on here because I would leave somebody out.
We have at least we have two hundred business partners.
We have forty or fifty that are dedicated to the
advanced manufacturing workforce. And those particular companies are giving us
feedback on our curriculum all the time. They're providing co
ops and internships to students, they provide field trips and
(15:14):
opportunities for our teachers to go there. And there's other
agencies in the greater Cincinnati area that are not only
connecting Butler Tech to these companies, agencies such as Ready Cincinnati,
agencies such as Jobs Ohio. They're playing key connection opportunities
between Butler Tech and these workforce development companies to really
(15:36):
protect our country, to really protect our workforce. And this
is something that wasn't talked about when I was in
high school. This is not something I was made to
believe that I had to have a four year degree
to be successful, where my life was going to crash
and burn when I graduated high school. There's a lot
of people that are victims to that narrative, like myself.
There's a lot of people that went through this country
and subscribe to thousands of dollars of college debt, over
(15:58):
six figures in college debts and we believe there's a
different way of creating a productive.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Citizen in this country.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And so even if there's a young person that wants
to go to college, we believe there's still an opportunity
to experience career technical education. Still equip yourself with a trade,
Still keep yourself out of debt, learn how to work
your way through college and stay debt free, and eventually
take those skills in and combine them with the four
year degree, making yourself even more marketable. And it doesn't
mean the four year degree isn't valuable. What it means
(16:26):
is there are certain industries that no longer need a
four year degree to recruit and attract the best talent,
and that's where career tech comes in. There are very
I mean, the four year degree has its place in
our country and it's doing great things with it, but
it is not the end all, be all narrative for
kids in this country.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If you are an adult that lives in this area
and you're thinking, hmmm, they're talking about this automated manufacturing
and I'm scared of it. If you don't get those credentials,
you're going to be out. From what I can tell
and what I've been seeing and you're saying, now, you
could go to school while you're working and get those credentials.
So when AI does come in, or when your workplace
(17:04):
is elevated, or maybe it already is, you're not behind
the eight ball and unemployable.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Yeah, thank you for that frame. We welcome any interested
student or parent or family member that lives in Butler
County jump on our website at butlertech dot org. We
have a variety of links on our website that will
showcase all of our programs, all of our campuses, all
of our processes and applications for anyone that's interested. We
have dozens of open houses, we do dozens of tours,
(17:32):
and if you're hungry, we have the best kept secret
in Butler County is called Cafe Lee is a student
operated restaurant. Students design the menu, students are the chefs.
Students run the front of the house, the back of
the house, and it is packed every single Wednesday and
Thursday from eleven to one in Butler County at our
main campus.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Anyone is welcome to attend and we'd love to take
you out for lunch.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Perhaps we can interview you and you can be a
guest speaker, a guest man tour for our digital media program.
We'd love to take you to lunch at our Butler
Tech restaurant, Cafe Lee.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'll take it. Thank you for coming in today. Doctor
William Sprinkles the third. Do you go as the third
or is it just doctor Sprinkles.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
It's just William. It's just William.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I've named my son the fourth and he's frustrated that
he has to have all those extra things at the
end of his name.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's just William. It's what I go by.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
And I want to thank you for the opportunity to
be on air. Anytime Butler Tech has an opportunity to
share our story, to share our mission, that's important for us.
And anytime I'm able to get in front of a microphone,
I would like to add the following.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
We're super grateful for our teachers.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We know how hard teachers work in this country, So
anybody that's listening that's an educator or a teacher shout
outs to them. In particular. I'm always going to show
favoritism to our Butler Tech staff. We believe that they're
world class, the best teachers in the country, and we
know that I wouldn't be able to be here on
air if we didn't have teachers kicking down doors for
kids every single day.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Doctor William Sprinkles, the superintendent and SEEE of Butler Tech.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Coming up, a consistently.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Ranked top pediatric hospital in the nation is right here.
Cincinnati Children's and their comprehensive Children's Injury Center is there
every day to help parents navigate the dangers of childhood.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's coming up. This is iHeart Cincy.
This week on iHeart Cinci, It's all fun and games
until someone gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, that fact of life occurs every day, and the
Comprehensive Children's Injury Center, a part of Cincinnati Children's Medical Center,
works every day to help patients and parents navigate the
injuries large and small. Today, the program manager, Stephanie Lyons,
explains how her team helps families stay safe. We work
to reduce unintentional injuries that happen in the community.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Our goal is.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
To not have kids get hurt so that they don't
have to come see us in the emergency.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Rooms and later In many cases, they would perceived to
be lesser than opportunities for lesser than students.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
This isn't your mom's old vocational school.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
With over one hundred and twenty program certificates and credentials,
Butler Tech is growing, opening new high school campuses and
specialized career tech fields that pay great when they graduate
and they're vital to our future. Today's superintended about Doctor
William Sprinkles is here to talk about the exciting and
unique opportunities for Butler County students and any adult who
(01:07):
wants to get trained for the future.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins. Welcome back to
iHeart Cincy.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This is Sandy Collins with my special guest today, the
superintendent of Butler Tech Schools, William Sprinkles, Doctor William Sprinkles,
their doctor, welcome to be on the show. When they
told me that mister William Sprinkles from Butler Tech was
available for iHeart Sinsey, I envisioned a little old man
from you know, mister Sprankles, like Carl Fridgertson, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
But you are far from it.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You are a modern, energized, creative, enthusiastic educator in our
system and I think everyone knows it that's associated with you,
and I'm just getting to meet you. So tell me
a little bit about Butler Tech and the programs that
you have out there, but not only just for Butler
County students, but also for a you have adult education program,
(02:01):
and tell me about your job as CEO and superintendent
out there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Sure, so thank you for that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
The easiest way to explain Butler Tech to people that
might not know about Butler Tech is one We specialize
in career technical education and we have a variety of
different divisions or different categories that we reach students. We
have six high school campuses that are scattered across Butler County.
Those campuses include a medical campus called the Bioscience Center,
(02:28):
which is located off of seventy five North and South.
We have a Natural Science Center which is up by
the Monroe Outlets. We have our traditional high school campus
which has two buildings on it's called d.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Russell Lee and our School of the Arts.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And then we have two brand new campuses that are
just opening, which is an aviation high school located on
the Middletown Runway.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And then we have.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Another campus called am HUB which stands for Advanced Manufacturing
Hub that is also a brand new high school in
partnership with Miami University that is located in the city
of Hamilton on the former Miami Regional Campus location.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I did want to talk to you a little bit
about career tech or vocational, which is what I went through.
They're the vocational program was for students who couldn't achieve
anything in academics. What you have done in Butler County
and in the industry of career technical education to elevate
it to helping out an entire part of the workforce
(03:25):
that is just needing so many people and there's not
enough people there to do those jobs and their high paying,
good pin jobs. Tell me a little bit more about
how you approached career and technical education and why you're
so passionate about it.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Sure, so, the word that you use was elevate, and
there's this idea that you are accurate. There is an
era of time in our country where in the eighties
and early nineties, some even to the early two thousands,
students were forced, sent or persuaded to go to career
tech centers. Not in all cases, but in many cases
they were perceived to be lesser than opportunities for lesser
(04:00):
than students.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And most career tech teachers have been doing.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It right all along, and it just took a little
while to figure that out. For our country to shift
back to building to connecting career tech centers to our
countries need to have a boom in economic and talent
development pipelines. In butter Tech's particular situation for the last
fifteen years, in particular the last ten years as a
concentrated focus, we've really done a couple of things. One,
(04:26):
we've expanded the number of programs that we provide to
young people. So some people in our country may think
career tech just was autoshop and auto mechanics, the old
shop experience. We offer everything from biomedical engineering, to exercise science,
to aviation, to mechatronics, to standard engineering, and we offer
traditional in demand fields also such as construction, electrical cosmetology.
(04:50):
The list goes on and on. There's thirty five of
those programs that we offer. And what makes the Butler
Tech experience is a couple of things that we pride
ourselves on.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
One is the foundation of that experiences.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We hire the best people in the country, and no
matter what cre tech is intended to do, it won't
achieve its outcome if you don't hire the right teachers.
After hiring the right teachers, there is a particular experience
we want young people to have and most times that
experience includes a lot of frequent hands on education, and
a lot of frequent hands on problem solving, and a
lot of frequent hands on creation of things in their industry.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So it's not just consuming content.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
We want young people producing, creating and solving things for industry.
The second thing that we believe in is, in addition
to strong relationships in addition to strong hands on experiences,
we believe at Botech that all young people need to
have an elevated voice in the classroom. They are not
there to simply consume information and just be talked at
or talked to.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
We believe that this is a.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Day and age where young people need to have an
active voice in their classroom, an active voice in their community,
and eventually and hopefully an active voice in the companies
that they matriculate to go on to work for. We
want young people to feel empowered. We expect there to
be leadership roles in every single classroom that we have.
Majority of our classrooms have students student ambassadors that are
going to greet you when you enter. All students are
(06:09):
expected to know how to do business handshakes. We have
shark tank pitches occurring across our entire ecosystem. We have
an entrepreneurship center where students are creating products and processes
for the industries in which they're studying to hopefully transform
those experiences for our country down the road.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And we're trying to make.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It as active and as involved and as collaborative and
as hands on as possible, which is in many cases,
while my social experiences in my high school experience were fantastic.
Some of my educational experiences were pretty boring.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You have a training program specifically for people who want
to just go right into the workforce.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Can you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
There's a team of people inside our organization that have
kind of described this as a highway think of two
seventy five with multiple on ramps and off ramps. How
it was explained to me by other thought leaders in
our organization becomes easy for me to explain to other
people is when you join a particular pathway at Butler Tech,
the goal is to never box in your opportunities, but
(07:09):
instead expand the opportunities to have more than one. Think
of a program with twenty five students in it. Twelve
of those students may want to go right into the workforce.
We're going to provide them with the industry recognized credentials
to be competitive entry level employees and the skill sets
to go right into the workforce, keep themselves out of debt,
food on the table for their family, and make a
great living.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And what areas of those just three or four?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
So in all of our pathways, so, for example, the
electrical pathway, which is brand new for us. In our
engineering pathway, there are jobs right now in the Greater
Cincinnati area that take students right out of high school.
We have students that are in demand with multiple career fields.
We have students in the labs that you already mentioned,
both cosmetology and auto mechanics that are going right into
the workforce today. We have other labs such as digital media,
(07:55):
which is where you work at in this particular studio.
We have students graduating from our Digital Media pathway with
a variety of industry recognized credentials to be highly competitive
entry level employees in fields such as digital media. We
have dozens of students in the healthcare industry that are
graduating with entry level healthcare recognize credentials such as their
(08:15):
st and a phlebotomy and other industry recognized certificates that'll
get them a kickstart or an entry level job in
a healthcare related field so they can start working at
long term care facilities and entry level nursing facilities and
eventually get advanced certificates and or advanced degrees, but do
it by staying debt free. That's the goal is to
keep students debt free as much as possible while working
(08:37):
their way through a series of advanced credentials and advanced degrees.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
My guest today here on iHeart Cincy is doctor William Sprinkles.
He's the CEO of Butler Tech and has been talking
this morning about all of the amazing programs that they
now offer in their Career Tech program, their new advanced
Manufacturing workforce and innovation hub that they're opening up, which
is a huge initiative with Miami University and all the
(09:02):
other opportunities. So William, can you tell me a little
bit about the fees and what it would cost.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
A student to go through the career tech programs?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
There's none. Butler Tech is a public high school. We
are a public high school and a public school of choice.
We partner with all eleven of the public school districts
in Butler County as well as the Northwest School District
in Hamilton County. Those students have direct access to Butler
Tech's programs and campuses.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We also send out over one hundred twenty.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Five called satellite teachers, where we have engineering teachers, healthcare teachers,
et cetera inside those other schools. So families that don't
want to send their student to a Butler Tech campus,
but they still want to take advantage of a career
technical opportunity. Those opportunities exist inside of Coleraine High School,
they exist inside of Middletown High School, inside of Fairfield
(09:53):
High School, and so on.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I'm not going to name all the high schools, but
earlier in the segment.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You asked me about our mom and I only told
you about our campuses.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
We have six campuses.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
We have one hundred and twenty five teachers that work
in forty five other buildings around Butler County and Northwest
School District where we provide very specific career technical programs.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I say all that to answer your question.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
None of the industry credentials that students need to get
they have to pay for. We pay for all of
them as part of our operational model. So what that
means is, whether it's an industry credential in healthcare, whether
it's an industry credential in engineering, in auto mechanics and
cosmetology and welding, we cover the cost of that through
the educational state dollars and the taxpayer model.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
That's all covered.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And of course when you get to the collegiate level
or the adult educational level. You do have to pay
for that, but our adult Education Pathway and our Adult
Education Division, we pride ourselves on reaching over twenty two
thousand adult learners a year. We have the largest and
the fastest growing adult technical center in the state of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
The prices are extremely competitive.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
There's also financial aid for adult adults that qualify for
financial aid at the adult level in the same way
that adults would qualify for grants or scholarships at the
collegiate level. They can apply the same financial aid and
take it to an adult career technical education center like
Butler Tech and access programs that you get industry credentials
in a shorter amount of time. The companies say, we
(11:19):
don't really care about particular degrees, we care about these credentials.
They get you immediately employed and get you a competitive wage.
So a lot of people that come to our adult
education pathways, we experience our people that are rebuilding their
adult life, they're rebuilding their adult identities, they're rebuilding their
adult opportunities.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And then we get some people that do.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
It right after high school because they didn't take advantage
of it during high school.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
What does the future look like here with all of
the construction and all of the innovation with technology that
we're all hearing about.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
What are you seeing in southwest Ohio?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Southwest Ohio has some very specific industries that are reflections
of the state of Ohio. Because Cincinnati and the Butler County,
even the Dayton area, we're an epicenter for a reflection
of what's happening in Ohio.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So the first one is healthcare.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Anybody that's seeking a profession in healthcare, those jobs are
in demand on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Of healthcare for the next ten or fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So we have a variety of different healthcare programs in
our secondary pathways and our education pathways, and we have
hundreds of students that apply. We're doing our best to
fill students in every single seat possible, and we're doing
our best to expand our campuses. So to answer your question,
our current Bioscience center, which normally hosts or seats or
provides seats the three hundred and fifty students. Next month
(12:41):
we're doing a ribbon cutting on that facility where blowing
size of it. We're taking three hundred and fifty more
students to have seven hundred students per year there, and
then we're also opening the doors of that campus to
start taking evening classes for adult education campuses. And we
also have a current adult education campus at the top
of Route four at Thesordesville location that are Bettie takes
evening and daytime adult education learners strictly in healthcare. So
(13:04):
we see healthcare, to your question, as one of the
most booming in demand industries not only in the state
of Ohio, not only in the country, but definitely in
the greater Cincinnati area. And we have dozens of high
level partnerships with medical offices and hospitals and other providers
that allow our students to do their internships and clinicals
and co ops there which allow for high level experiences.
(13:26):
Second part of your answer is two other fields that
are really in demand is advanced manufacturing and engineering. Ohio,
if I'm not mistaken, is the second largest state in
the country in the advanced manufacturing workforce behind California. California
only beats us out because they're quadruple us in physical size.
In regards to actual capital ratio or propensity of advanced
(13:50):
manufacturing jobs, Ohio is going to be at the top
of the list in this country. We have a super
progressive workforce of hundreds of companies in the greater Cincinnati
area that are part of that workforce coalition of advanced
manufacturing industries.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And what are those What are those companies?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
What is advanced manufacturing?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So advanced manufacturing is the intersection of a variety of
different pathways that used to be siloed. So, for example,
you might refer to it as welding meets the intersection
with precision machining meets the intersection of information technology meets
with the intersection of engineering. We're going to see a
lot of automation. We're going to see a lot of
work committed to the Department of Defense. We're going to
(14:31):
see a lot of production around parts and equipment and
things that are necessary to make the rest of this
country work. And Cincinnati is a hub for those particular companies.
What's important about brother Tech is not only do we
consider ourselves to be a pipeline to get students into
the talent pool with those companies. We're super grateful for
(14:52):
dozens of companies. I would be mistaken to try to
name them on here because I would leave somebody out.
We have at least we have two hundred business partners.
We have forty or fifty that are dedicated to the
advanced manufacturing workforce. And those particular companies are giving us
feedback on our curriculum all the time. They're providing co
ops and internships to students, they provide field trips and
(15:14):
opportunities for our teachers to go there. And there's other
agencies in the greater Cincinnati area that are not only
connecting Butler Tech to these companies, agencies such as Ready Cincinnati,
agencies such as Jobs Ohio. They're playing key connection opportunities
between Butler Tech and these workforce development companies to really
(15:36):
protect our country, to really protect our workforce. And this
is something that wasn't talked about when I was in
high school. This is not something I was made to
believe that I had to have a four year degree
to be successful, where my life was going to crash
and burn when I graduated high school. There's a lot
of people that are victims to that narrative, like myself.
There's a lot of people that went through this country
and subscribe to thousands of dollars of college debt, over
(15:58):
six figures in college debts and we believe there's a
different way of creating a productive.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Citizen in this country.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And so even if there's a young person that wants
to go to college, we believe there's still an opportunity
to experience career technical education. Still equip yourself with a trade,
Still keep yourself out of debt, learn how to work
your way through college and stay debt free, and eventually
take those skills in and combine them with the four
year degree, making yourself even more marketable. And it doesn't
mean the four year degree isn't valuable. What it means
(16:26):
is there are certain industries that no longer need a
four year degree to recruit and attract the best talent,
and that's where career tech comes in. There are very
I mean, the four year degree has its place in
our country and it's doing great things with it, but
it is not the end all, be all narrative for
kids in this country.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If you are an adult that lives in this area
and you're thinking, hmmm, they're talking about this automated manufacturing
and I'm scared of it. If you don't get those credentials,
you're going to be out. From what I can tell
and what I've been seeing and you're saying, now, you
could go to school while you're working and get those credentials.
So when AI does come in, or when your workplace
(17:04):
is elevated, or maybe it already is, you're not behind
the eight ball and unemployable.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Yeah, thank you for that frame. We welcome any interested
student or parent or family member that lives in Butler
County jump on our website at butlertech dot org. We
have a variety of links on our website that will
showcase all of our programs, all of our campuses, all
of our processes and applications for anyone that's interested. We
have dozens of open houses, we do dozens of tours,
(17:32):
and if you're hungry, we have the best kept secret
in Butler County is called Cafe Lee is a student
operated restaurant. Students design the menu, students are the chefs.
Students run the front of the house, the back of
the house, and it is packed every single Wednesday and
Thursday from eleven to one in Butler County at our
main campus.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Anyone is welcome to attend and we'd love to take
you out for lunch.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Perhaps we can interview you and you can be a
guest speaker, a guest man tour for our digital media program.
We'd love to take you to lunch at our Butler
Tech restaurant, Cafe Lee.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I'll take it. Thank you for coming in today. Doctor
William Sprinkles the third. Do you go as the third
or is it just doctor Sprinkles.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
It's just William. It's just William.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I've named my son the fourth and he's frustrated that
he has to have all those extra things at the
end of his name.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's just William. It's what I go by.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
And I want to thank you for the opportunity to
be on air. Anytime Butler Tech has an opportunity to
share our story, to share our mission, that's important for us.
And anytime I'm able to get in front of a microphone,
I would like to add the following.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
We're super grateful for our teachers.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We know how hard teachers work in this country, So
anybody that's listening that's an educator or a teacher shout
outs to them. In particular. I'm always going to show
favoritism to our Butler Tech staff. We believe that they're
world class, the best teachers in the country, and we
know that I wouldn't be able to be here on
air if we didn't have teachers kicking down doors for
kids every single day.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Doctor William Sprinkles, the superintendent and SEEE of Butler Tech.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Coming up, a consistently.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Ranked top pediatric hospital in the nation is right here.
Cincinnati Children's and their comprehensive Children's Injury Center is there
every day to help parents navigate the dangers of childhood.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's coming up. This is iHeart Cincy.
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