Warehouse Worriors Take on Industrial Educators
On November 22, 2002, a special episode of "Warehouse Warriors" was taped. It was special in several ways. First, it was the 43rd episode of "Warehouse Warriors" for the DIY (Do It Yourself) Channel, a cable channel devoted to enabling people to master a wide variety of homeowner technologies. This meant that the program had been renewed for another year, and their market share was growing.
Secondly, the show was significant to the crew because it marked the last episode for which the producer, Tom Crib, would serve.
Most significantly, however, for anyone associated with industrial education, this episode matched students from the Industrial Technology Education program at Central Michigan University (CMU) against students from the Technology Education program of Purdue University. Thus, an epic battle was anticipated.
The show?s premise is a weekend DIYer?s dream?essentially, six competitors (three on each team) are locked in a "Home Depot-like" facility stocked with everything a DIYer could want...pristine tools, state-of-the-art building materials and top-of-the-line machinery. Three videogenic DIY experts?Ed, Jay and Scott?keep the competing teams on task and at work and also serve as the on-screen personalities.
Ed Del Grande, the show?s host, is first and foremost a fine craftsperson and master plumber who hails from Providence, Rhode Island. Each week, he flies to Knoxville and shoots four episodes in quick succession, then flies back to his family to recuperate from the stresses and trials of managing maverick contestants like physics professors and cranky football players, not to mention his cable company bosses. He does it with a unique style and the engaging smile that made him a favorite standup comedian during the 1980s.
Jay Baker and Scott Branscom, on the other hand, both live in Tennessee but specialize in Hollywoodworking?both are veteran actors who have also spent significant time at the jobsite in construction trades. And every week, each assumes the elder craftsperson role for one of the two competing teams. Like all elders, they are really good at articulating the best way to get something done. While this may be perceived as overbearing by particularly testosterone-laden contestants and viewers, the students from Purdue and CMU quickly recognized Ed and Jay?s expertise and merely asked, "Where?s the duct tape?"
On the television screen, the set looks huge, and the glitter of new tools and machines makes the show alluring to tool junkies everywhere. On the set, however, it is rather cramped, and behind the scenes, people squeeze through passageways crowded with bays of electronic audio and video equipment. Three cameras operate pretty much continuously on each set?the red team?s set and the blue team?s set.
The weekly series pits two teams against each other in identically well-stocked warehouses, racing against time and each other to design and build a winning home-improvement project. The project is a secret until the cameras roll, when the teams, using only their wits, brawn and the help of their expert, design and build a completed project in only eight hours.
That cool morning in November, the CMU and Purdue teams were clearly nervous on arrival. The secrecy of the project and the excitement of meeting the stars of the show made for butterflies and nervous joking backstage.
The CMU team members and the Purdue team members greeted one another and introduced themselves. Purdue?s team included hard-working Indianans, Mike Rogers and Casey Finnegan, and an Australian artisan, Liam Herbert. CMU?s team featured a couple of expert down-staters, Dave Cronk and Vince Heyser, and a fine craftsperson from the Michigan upper peninsula, Amanda Bishop. It was an evenly matched pair of teams.
At 9:00 a.m., the talent rolled in, met the teams and conferred with the producer and director. The project was presented to the teams. Over the weekend, set designers had built a mock dorm room for each team. The teams? projects: install Murphy beds and decorate their mock dorm rooms so that they would become jewels of the campuses. They each had eight hours.
Teams designed for the first hour and then rapidly began working on various aspects of the project. Periodically, when one team demonstrated a special technique, the cameras would draw near and up-close shots would occur. Later this might become a sidebar in the hour-long show.
Every hour, an air horn blew, and madcap MC Ed warned each team of the remaining time. Each set was off limits for the opposing team, and consequently, little talk occurred between teams on the brief lunch break.
Pressures were mounting, and weariness was taking its toll. The teams worked harder through the afternoon. Red sewed fabric. Blue developed special jigs. It was all coming together.
Who was the winner? You?ll have to turn to the DIY channel in April 2003 to find out, but it is clear that industrial education in all of its names was the overall winner.
Ed, Jay and Scott praised both teams for their creativity, problem-solving capacity and skills. The producer claimed it was the best group he had worked with in 42 episodes. And most importantly, it was clear to all that industrial education, whether called Technology Education or Industrial Technology Education, produces people who can design and build.
Career and technical educators also were winners, because the products of their programs?six outstanding young teachers at the beginning of their careers?were highlighted and shown to be capable of great things.
Andrew Schultz is the program chair for the Industrial Technology Education program at Central Michigan University. Michael Rogers is a graduate assistant in the Technology Education program at Purdue University.
DIY, one of four cable television networks created by Scripps Networks, focuses on the do-it-yourself enthusiast, providing in-depth demonstrations and tips for home repair, gardening and landscaping, decorating and designing, arts and crafts, automotive and recreation. DIY is distributed to more than 12 million U.S. households and is on pace to reach 20 million by the end of 2003.
The network?s companion Web site, DIYnet.com, mirrors DIY?s weekly on-air programming schedule, featuring easy-to-use, step-by-step instructions for more than 9,000 projects, including a detailed online guide to resources, materials and related projects. DIYnet.com users can search the site for any project shown on air, engage in community bulletin boards and submit do-it-yourself questions to the expert DIY staff.
Interested in being on "Warehouse Warriors?" Visit the site for more details and to apply. This could be an outstanding opportunity to showcase your students? talents to a much wider audience.
