{"id":122393,"date":"2026-03-14T00:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/899302213"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:24:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:24:51","slug":"court-reporting-program-partners-washburn-tech-shawnee-county-district-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/14\/court-reporting-program-partners-washburn-tech-shawnee-county-district-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Court reporting program partners Washburn Tech, Shawnee County District court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Shawnee County is looking to grow the number of court reporters through a new partnership program with Washburn University<\/a> Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n

The graduating class of four could join six others currently working in the Shawnee Co. District Court<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe met hundreds, hundreds of times,\u201d Lea Welch, court administrator, said. <\/p>\n

Administrative officials with the third judicial court district had to lean quite a bit on the job while helping set up the newest Washburn Tech<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know anything about setting up an accredited education program,\u201d Welch said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know anything about being a court reporter, so we were each teaching each other something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work paid off as they watched the first batch of potential court reporters graduate. <\/p>\n

This comes at a time when Shawnee County finds itself understaffed. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 18 judicial divisions here in Shawnee County, and we have six court reporters,\u201d Welch said. \u201cSo, obviously, we\u2019re way understaffed. And we\u2019re hoping we can scale this program and implement it in other districts state wide.\u201d<\/p>\n

They hope this class and others help its stable of crucial record-keepers back up. <\/p>\n

Graduate and current transcriptionist Douglas Zilch came in not knowing much, but realized a passion for court reporting. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of responsibility but it\u2019s incredibly fulfilling,\u201d Zilch said. \u201cI, like she mentioned, I didn\u2019t know about court reporters before starting this program. I\u2019m really happy we\u2019ve been able to get the word out there and let people know. <\/p>\n

This first class helped iron out the program and feel prepared for their certification test. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the test to go, so we still have another month of practice day in, day out, making sure we\u2019re ready,\u201d Zilch said. \u201cBut, this is a good first step to get to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grads will remain transcriptionists until they take and pass their certification tests in April.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… with Washburn University Institute of Technology<\/span>. The graduating class of four could … helping set up the newest Washburn Tech<\/span> program. \u00e2\u0080\u009cWe didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}