“A hard piece to replace:” the engineering program adapts after staff losses

^{Art by Tula Winton}

Riverside’s engineering program is experiencing changes this school year after three teachers and its director, Tim Velegol, left in September.

Jacqueline Brown, who was teaching Introduction to Engineering (IED), unexpectedly passed away over the summer. Adam Tokonitz, who was teaching Digital Electronics (DE) and IED, unexpectedly left the program. Seth Stallings, who was teaching DE and Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA), retired. 

The remaining teachers have shuffled around courses to accommodate these changes. William Oakley, who previously taught most sections of Principles of Engineering (POE), has transitioned back to teaching IED along with his first semester of CEA. Ryan Patridge is teaching DE, and has stopped teaching Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) and multiple computer science classes to accommodate all the juniors who need to take this course. 

“[The changes have] left us in a bit of a sticky wicket, as the British person would say, which means a troublesome spot,” Oakley noted. 

“[Ms. Brown’s passing] was completely unforeseen, and it is a very tragic circumstance.” Oakley said.

A planned replacement for Brown is scheduled to arrive during the spring semester.

“I will be mentoring them and helping them with IED so that I can teach CEA,” Oakley said. “[This way] seniors have at least one elective to go through.“

As for Stallings, his retirement was planned well in advance, and the program was prepared for his departure.

“I was set up with everything to take over for him, so that [change] was easy to take care of,” Oakley said.

The loss of Stallings and Tokonitz also means the loss of a popular senior elective— Aerospace Engineering.

“It’s disappointing,” senior Saeed Lobbad said about the loss of Aerospace. “I was definitely interested in Aerospace; it was one of the only classes I was going to take.” 

Dr. Woods-Weeks said that it was a district decision not to fill Velegol’s position, but that the other teachers would absorb his responsibilities. 

“We have tried distributing the load of his work,” Oakley said. “Mr. Dibble and Mr. Patridge have done tremendous jobs, stepping up to try to fill in some of the roles that Mr. Velegol’s done, while I’m stepping up to help with mentoring all the new teachers.” 

“[Velegol’s] roles and tasks have been split amongst some of the staff, including myself,” Dibble said. “So that means that I’m dealing with far more responsibility with the program than I have in years past, but I’m excited and prepared to go into that new chapter while also trying to teach at the same time.”

Dibble will be the new face of the program, but is technically not taking Mr. Velegol’s job because he is continuing his role teaching. 

The teachers are not receiving any extra compensation for this work.

Students shared mixed feelings about the future of the program in a Pirates’ Hook survey. The loss of Velegol was a popular topic.

“I wish Mr. Velegol had stayed, or they had replaced his role. [And I’m concerned that the program will have] less individualized things and less college prep without junior and senior interviews,” one student anonymously replied.

“I miss Mr. Velegol; he is the glue of the engineering program,” senior Evelyn Walters said.

“I am scared that the changed engineering program will not give my [younger] sister the same opportunities it gave me,” she added.

Freshman Sally Grey notes that she doesn’t notice many changes in the program because she hasn’t experienced the old engineering program, but she still has some concerns about Velegol leaving.

“I’m a little concerned that because Mr. Velegol left things won’t run as smoothly,” she said.

The remaining teachers recognize how much Velegol did for the engineering program and are committed to absorbing necessary roles, but note that there will still be things they can’t take on while still teaching. 

“Mr. Velegol was here for over 20 years, and that is a very hard piece to replace in any facet way, shape or form,” Dibble said. “This means that some of the aspects in the program may go away for a time or may not come back at all.” 

One thing that the teachers can’t replicate after losing Velegol is the junior and senior interviews for the engineering students. These were one-on-one sessions that helped prep the students for college and interviews. 

“We do not have time to wrangle up everybody, sit down and talk with y’all for 30 or 45 minutes for that,” Oakley said.

Patridge noted that the juniors and seniors really appreciated these sessions, but this is something that is still available with Ondessa Kiliru, Riverside’s college adviser.  

Much like Kiliru’s role, there are others outside of the program that will be taking on some extra roles to accommodate Velegol’s. 

“We also work with multiple staff members in the building. Sheena Brooks, Riverside’s career development coordinator, is a prime example of resources that I can go to in a pinch to ask questions, and we have a good relationship with the admin team and most of the teachers in this building to try and make sure that we can help the transition go as smoothly as it can with all the other circumstances,” Dibble said.

“Even though it’s hard to replace all the aspects that Mr. Velegol brought to this program, we are doing the best to keep as much as we can, and then once we have stability with having six teachers again, we will be able to build on the foundation that we have for this program.”

Some students agree with this idea of building the engineering program back up to the level of staff they once had. 

“I am concerned that the reputation of the program might decrease somewhat, but I think that as long as we hire a couple more teachers and build a new engineering culture, it will be fine,” junior Timothy Arthur said.

“I think the engineering program does have a future because we make such an impact on the community in Durham,” sophomore Pascale Lodewick said. “People send their kids here to do engineering, and as long as we keep getting interest in the program, we can keep it up. If the interest starts to drain, it might be hard.” 

“There’s still hope in some way, but it’s still kind of sad, what’s happening,” Lobbad said. “Hopefully, they get to still do the same stuff like the engineering field trip, all the different programs we do, and whatnot.”

Despite all the changes in the engineering program, teachers are optimistic about its future and note its historical success.

“This program is one of the district’s best-achieving things, period,” Oakley said. “If you just ask us about the ACT scores of students in the program compared to other students, it is statistically higher. Pretty much anyone going through the program goes to the big-name universities.”

There are resources outside of the teachers and counselors that will assist with the changes, such as parents and community members. 

“With all of these changes, we do have a board of parents known as the Riverside Engineering Parent Action Council (REPAC),” Dibble said. “They are very helpful when it comes to giving support in multiple other areas.” 

“I’m optimistic,” Patridge said. “I think it’ll work out.”