GCCC’s John Deere Ag-Tech Program Earns College of Tomorrow Platinum Award
[Garden City, KS — Garden City Community College’s John Deere Agriculture Technology (JDAT) program earned the highest ranking of Platinum Level for the 2020 College of Tomorrow award.
The John Deere College of Tomorrow (COT) award is a tracking system designed by the industry leader to measure the success of JDAT programs across the nation. The scoring system is designed to cover a gamut of areas that measure the ability of an institution to effectively teach technicians who are new to the workforce.
This award, based on the 2020-2021 academic year, is a prestigious honor given to John Deere training programs across the nation with rankings of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Levels. Each program is evaluated and graded on several factors, including internship communications
and connections to businesses. Last year, the GCCC JDAT program was awarded a Gold Level ranking of the COT award.
Gabe Winger, GCCC’s lead John Deere instructor, said part of the merit-based award is due to the changes and upgrades that the program has made in the last few years with the support of the college. The associate’s level program at GCCC prepares students for a position with a local John Deere dealer upon successful program completion.
“This is the first time our program has won the Platinum Level of this award, which is the highest ranking. This validation from John Deere just shows the recognition that Nate Steinle and I have put forth, along with the support of GCCC, and how great of a program JDAT really is,” Winger said.
The John Deere Agriculture Technology program is now housed in the Gary E. Jarmer Technical Annex, which sits adjacent to the John Collins Vocational Building where the program was formerly housed. The annex building is more accommodating to the JDAT students’ work and provides updated classrooms and equipment for the program.
For more information on the JDAT program, contact Gabe Winger at
christian.winger@gcccks.edu.
