Kent ISD — Northview High School senior Jesse Lake said one of the main reasons he chose to study mechatronics at the Kent Career Tech Center was the opportunity for hands-on experience through project-based learning.
“We learn how to do basically everything,” said Jesse, who is in his second year of the Tech Center’s mechatronics program, pointing to a recent project of building an electrical panel control. “We have hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems and fluid controls.”
Mechatronics, an interdisciplinary program that integrates mechanical, electrical and computer engineering, is one of about 30 programs students can explore during the Tech Center’s annual open house this week Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4-5.
Mechatronics is part of advanced manufacturing, which also includes welding, engineering and precision machining. All of these programs are located in the Tech Center West facility, which opened in 2023 after renovations that allowed for growth in the advanced manufacturing programs.
Housing welding, engineering, precision machining and mechatronics in one facility mirrors real-world industry, where these departments typically operate together, said mechatronics instructor Travis Raspotnik. He hopes visitors to the open house will make the short walk west from the main facility (Tech Center East) to discover what mechatronics and the other advanced manufacturing programs have to offer.
What is Mechatronics?
“My goal is to prepare a student for a career and college in the world of manufacturing and automation,” said Raspotnik. “A student leaves here with problem-solving and technical skills, so they are advanced over other candidates in industry and for college, they have hands-on experience with equipment, and understand the concepts they are doing.”
Mechatronics started as a way to create more efficient and automated manufacturing processes, but soon was being utilized in a number of products such as vending machines, auto-focus cameras and door openers. This is because mechatronics allows for the creation of more complex machines, Raspotnik said.
With the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, the demand has increased for robotics, automation, and control systems engineers, all of which fall under mechatronics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates about 1,300 openings for electro-mechanical and mechatronics professionals every year.
The mechatronics program at the Tech Center, which for the 2025-26 school year has 46 students, offers first- and second-year options.
In the first year of the program, students are hands-on with mechanical and electrical work, computer-aided drafting, computer-aided manufacturing, hydraulics, pneumatics, program logic controls and industry safety. They also learn about robotics, lean manufacturing, fundamentals of engineering, manufacturing, electrical and mechanical controls.
Kent Career Tech Center Open House
Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4 and 5
The open house will run from 5-7 p.m. both days at the Tech Center’s East and West facilities, located at 1655 East Beltline Ave. NE.
Tech Center programs are open to any student in the Kent ISD area who are turning 16 on or before Dec. 1 and are entering grades 11 or 12. Programs include health careers, hospitality, construction, law enforcement, teacher academy, IT, agriscience, automotive and advanced manufacturing.
In the second year is an advanced class that goes deeper into building control panels and programmable logic controllers, along with a paid, two-day-a-week internship.
In each program year, students may also earn up to six certifications in such areas as Universal Robots and EPSON robots; Raspotnik noted the program has the highest number of EPSON robots and the second highest number of Universal Robots in the United States.
Amid everything else, students work on specialty projects, including building in-house lab stations such as cages and training stations for EPSON robots. They also earn GRCC credit.
“We focus heavily on teamwork and building skills and understanding personalities and traits, along with mechanical systems, robotics, fluid power, CAD, CAM, CNC machining and automation,” said Raspotnik, who was part of a Ferris State University group that helped establish the standards for teaching mechatronics in Michigan.
From Equations to Automation
This year, Raspotnik said he has filled 14 internships and already has companies lined up for fall internships. Jesse will fill one of those internship positions this month after he turns 18, working in the engineering department at Cascade Engineering.
Jesse said what surprised him about the program was the amount of math used in the field.
“I never really understood what I would use trigonometry for, but you get these formulas and you have to be able to use them to program the machines to determine how much you want to remove or add,” he said.
As Jesse talked, he was working on creating a set of aluminum bars, called parallels, to be used in vise jaws so the mechatronics class could make keychains for the upcoming Tech Center open house. While making the one-inch parallels, Jesse demonstrated his knowledge of numerical controls using a computer numerical control, or CNC, machine and a manual Klutch metal band saw.
“This is subtractive manufacturing, when we take material away to build something, which is the opposite of additive manufacturing which would be 3D printing,” Raspotnik said.
Across the lab, Caledonia High School junior Renno Nichols worked with his group on pneumatics and hydraulics trainers in the fluid power unit.
While still undecided on a career path, Renno said the variety in the mechatronics program has given him the opportunity to explore possible options. While at the Tech Center he has coded CNC machines, used the 3D design program SolidWorks, worked with the electronics platform Arduino, and built a programmable logic controller.
“I have always loved robotics,” said Renno, who was involved in LEGO robotics in 2016 in Caledonia. “Along with that, my friends were doing this program and I thought it would help me in deciding my future career, which I hope will be in robotics.”
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