HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT Continued from page 11


in a broad industry and the proximity giants like Werner, Union Pacific and ConAgra. “We try to pick areas [for academies] that our


community, Omaha and Nebraska in general, has a need for. We could do game design, and while I’m sure it’d be very popular, I don’t know that there’s really a need for that.” And the academy itself exemplifies that same


sort of pragmatic approach. Juniors start with general principles and seniors move on to advanced concepts and even and internship. But it’s still something that took a little doing to get going. “It’s an industry hidden in plain sight,” said


Brachle, whose degree is in industrial distribution. “When you go into Wal-Mart, you don’t see how the products gets from, say, China to here. “So, when we first started [the academy] we


didn’t have very many students, and a lot dropped out,” he added. In fact, it was Rodis alone who made it through from the first class. “When the academy started for transportation,


distribution and logistics, it was a new program. I thought it seemed cool and I should look into it,” he said. “At the time, I was not looking at a career, I was looking to get through high school.”


But actually getting through high school


changed all that. Te studying of purchasing and operations, the mapping of a truck route from Florida to Washington, the actual experience using spreadsheets to refine a working inventory system. All of it opened doors and opened Rodis’s eyes as to what was out there. And it didn’t hurt to have parental support that was totally on board. “A lot of kids go to college just to go to college,


but there needs to be that J-O-B at the end, and that’s what Jeff and I spoke about,” said Rodis’s father, also named Jeff Rodis. “Te bottom line is, you hope to help your kid get on a path that helps them earn a living … and when [my son] started to look into it, he saw there are a lot of jobs that pay really well. And being in Nebraska, what a great spot to be in.” Te attrition in the program was tough, said


the elder Rodis. But, far from being hesitant and thinking of giving up on a new program, he said it’s a credit to the school and teachers that they didn’t give up on his son when he was the only one left. And to validate that faith, interest is soaring.


In the four years since an initial class of eight dwindled to one, the academy has grown beyond capacity now, Brachle said. And the younger Jeff Rodis, who has returned to speak to those starting the program, said he’s jealous of the opportunities those following him have, like a field trip to the


ProMat expo in Chicago. “When I was there, we were only talking about


things like that!” he said. But Rodis also sees the same confusion he ran


into when he started. “When I talk to the sophomores, everyone hears


transportation and they think of being a bus driver. And they say they don’t want to be a bus driver or a truck driver. But I tell them what it’s really about and that even truck driver’s can make $100,000 a year, and that sparks them right up. Everybody loves money.” And everyone loves opportunity. Tat’s the


what the program really offers, the younger Rodis said. Indeed, what he found when he started looking at colleges was a mix of enthusiasm and confusion. Schools like UNK and Iowa State said they were waiting for kids like him, with more internships available than they had students to fill them. But, at the same time, they had never really seen a transcript like his before. Much like the potential employers he courted for high school internships as a 16-year-old, they weren’t sure what to do with him. In the future, that should change. Not only


will more students going through the program help universities figure out just how to articulate their credits, the universities themselves are taking


Continues


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