"Look at the hydraulics on this bad boy!" rolled off the tongue of
Northeastern Junior College freshman diesel technology student Dustin Stum from Burlington when he got his first look at an Insley track hoe excavator donated to the program last week by BTC General Contractors. What Stum vocalized was probably what everyone of his classmates were thinking.

The massive machine was brought to the teaching facility on a semi truck, unloaded, and presented to the program by Gary Lindberg, equipment manager BTC, located in Henderson, CO.

The students and teachers were quick to circle the excavator and get a good look at the machine, opening the doors, exploring the various aspects of the engine and the hydraulics. Clearly, there was quite a bit of excitement about the donation. According to Justin Mertens, director of the diesel technology program, this donation will add some really great dimension to the instruction he and other teachers are able to incorporate into their labs. "We've never had any hydraulics of this size, or any equipment that operated on a track system," Mertens said. "So this is awesome to have something like this to allow the students to
get up close, hands-on experience with how these systems work."

The students were asked to guess how old the machine is, which was clearly masked by a fairly new paint job. Several guessed it was a model from the late 90s. After the guessing was done, Lindberg indicated it is a 1981 model-built way before the students were born. This surprised most of the learners, but also was a big indication of how well the preventive maintenance has been done to date.

BTC General Contractors was originally started by Bob Bergstrom of the Lafayette area in 1980. In 2000 he sold the majority of the business to his son Buck and wife Mary of Loveland. Kyle Keirns of Loveland is currently a freshman student in the NJC diesel technology program and he was aware that the college was looking for donated equipment to use as teaching tools. Keirns mentioned to his uncle that if he had equipment he was willing to part with, the NJC program could and would make good use of it. Upon hearing about the program in Sterling, Buck and Mary decided to donate the excavator to the program.

Barbara L. Baker
Director of Marketing Services
Northeastern Junior College
Sterling, CO 80751
(970) 521-6611 (office)
(970) 520-7464 (cell)
(970) 522-4945 (fax)