Bart Aslin of the Society of Manufacturing Engineer (SME) Education Foundation announced yesterday that the manufacturing program at Westfield Vocational Technical High School (WVTHS) is the recipient of a $15,000 grant.
The PRIME grant (Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education) includes $10,000 for equipment, software and/or professional development upgrades, plus$5,000 in funding for the Gateway Academy summer camp.
Program Director Clement Fucci said the school will also receive national recognition.
“We’re being recognized across the country,” Fucci said. “This puts us in the loop of schools with manufacturing programs.”
Aslin toured the program and spoke with several students. He stressed that he skills learned at WVTHS would take them into a career field with many possibilities and a good paycheck.
“The masses don’t know how important manufacturing is and how life changing it can be,” Aslin said. “Today there is a great void of workers in manufacturing – people are looking to retire and there are a lot of job openings.”
Aslin said America is the leader when it comes to innovation and ideas. However, the skills students learn at WVTHS can take them around the globe. Aslin recently visited Canada and toured the sand oil industry, where he said there are many high-paying jobs for skilled workers.
“In Alberta, Canada there are 30,000 job openings and a lot of them are in manufacturing,” he said.
Aslin told students that machinists can make $200,000 a year there right now.
“In our country, people talk about being an engineer and having that degree, but there are good jobs in manufacturing at all levels,” he said. “It’s a dirty little secret that many machinists make more than engineers.”
Aslin said college is not for everyone and those who choose to work after high school graduation have many opportunities in the manufacturing business if they have the right skills, which they can learn at WVTHS.
“However, I encourage all of you to take what you learn and continue it in college,” said Aslin. “I encourage you to be life-long learners. If you continue to educate yourself in the new technologies, you will always have skills.”
Aslin said the grant denotes WVTHS as “one of the premiere technical high schools in the country.”
On hand for the announcement and tour were several members of the manufacturing business community who participate in the school’s manufacturing technology advisory committee.
“These people are the life blood of our program,” Fucci told Aslin. “We’re celebrating 100 years because of these people.”
The PRIME award also offers WVTHS scholarship opportunities to students, assistance ensuring a manufacturing business is on the school partnership team, facilitation of mentorships, tours of local businesses and job shadows, connection to mycareerme.org, complimentary instructor membership in the SME, and PRIME school banner.
The SME Education Foundation is committed to changing the future of manufacturing education and addressing the shortage of manufacturing and technical talent in the United States.
