Designed for IMPACT!
At Butler Tech, real-world learning doesn’t happen by chance. It’s intentionally built into the experiences our instructors create for students.
When Digital Media instructor at Lakota West, Erik Nett, arranged a tour of Butler Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub for his 93-year-old father, who spent his career working in manufacturing, he was also looking for opportunities to connect his students with meaningful, hands-on projects.
During the visit, Nett and Hayden Morgan, Engineering Instructor at the Advanced Manufacturing Hub, discussed opportunities for their programs to work together. One idea stood out: having Nett’s Digital Media students create the logo for IMPACT Manufacturing, a student-run business where seniors in engineering, information technology, welding and machining gain experience working on real-world projects.
The result was a multiweek collaboration that connected two distinct career-technical programs through a professional design project.
The Digital Media students began by gathering design requirements and developing initial logo concepts. Through video conferences, email exchanges, shared files and design critiques, those concepts were narrowed to three finalists.
After several rounds of feedback and revisions, the students delivered a completed vector logo for IMPACT Manufacturing.
While the entire Digital Media class contributed to the process, Lakota West senior Victor Hagar served as the primary student designer.
Throughout the project, Morgan gathered feedback from students and staff at the Advanced Manufacturing Hub to help refine the design and ensure it reflected IMPACT Manufacturing’s identity and mission. The project also reinforced an important professional expectation: Visual identities developed for Butler Tech programs and initiatives must align with the district’s established brand guidelines.
For the Digital Media students, the experience mirrored the expectations of professional design work, requiring creativity, communication, adaptability and the ability to incorporate client feedback while maintaining a clear design vision.
Victor showcased his work during a Lakota Board of Education meeting, answering questions about the IMPACT Manufacturing logo project while demonstrating his professional communication skills. Board members also expressed appreciation for the strong partnership between Lakota and Butler Tech.
For IMPACT Manufacturing, the project delivered an official visual identity for a business where students are learning to manage projects, communicate with clients and apply technical skills to real-world challenges.
This is career-technical education in action. Instructors connecting opportunities across programs, students applying their skills to meaningful projects and partnerships creating experiences that extend beyond the classroom.
