Advanced-manufacturing teacher Alex Peters at CNC Lathe. / Photo by Steven C. Sharek When Minuteman High School opens for students this fall, a new offering will appear on the roster of its high-quality career and technical programs — advanced manufacturing — and Arlington resident Alex Peters will be teaching it.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity I have,” Peters said in an Aug. 9 news release. The new instructor has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UMass Lowell. “More than anything, I want these students to walk out of Minuteman with the ability to problem-solve, whether it be related to their trade or just day-to-day life. My biggest goal is to give them a serious edge in any of their future endeavors.”
“We’re really excited to get this new program,” said Michelle Roche, the school’s director of career and technical programs. “It’s a real value-add for the school and the students.”
A Feb. 13 Boston Globe opinion piece touted the trend: “Advanced manufacturing, which combines new information technology with advanced machinery, is reinvigorating manufacturing and creating opportunities in the United States that did not seem feasible just over a decade ago.”
2 grants fund effort
Minuteman’s advanced-manufacturing program was funded by two major competitive grants totaling nearly $1 million, which were awarded to the school through the state’s Skills Capital Grant Program. Roche expects to have 10 to 12 freshmen enrolled in advanced manufacturing during its first year.
Students taking advanced manufacturing “will be trained on cutting-edge technology and advanced computerized equipment to support high-precision product manufacturing of various materials,” a description of the new program says.
“Students will receive training and certifications from NIMS (the National Institute of Metalworking Skills) and obtain their OSHA 10-hour safety and health certification.”
With this type of sophisticated state-of-the-art preparation, students can compete for high wage, high-skills careers in such fields as aerospace, automotive, medical devices and mechanical engineering. Openings for qualified individuals are expected due to an aging workforce and a scarcity of employees with the appropriate math skills, Roche said in the release.
Other program will use gear
Several other career and technical education programs at Minuteman will use the equipment in advanced manufacturing.
Students in biotechnology, engineering, robotics and metal fabrication and welding will learn how to construct parts for machines that are broken. They will also be trained to take a concept from the idea stage to completion, thereby ending up with “something in their hands that they have developed, built and manufactured that will be useful,” Roche said.
The program is expected to help bridge the skills gap between what job applicants and employees are capable of doing and what employers require. Another plus is that Minuteman advanced-manufacturing students will be prepared to meet demanding college standards. For example, Roche said Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Rochester Institute of Technology expect their engineering students to be familiar with how to design usable parts for machines.
“Our students will be ahead of the game” in college if they take advanced manufacturing at Minuteman, she observed.
Outreach is planned to various constituencies to create mutually beneficial partnerships with adult students seeking retraining for a new career, businesses and industries in Minuteman’s 10-town district (Acton, Arlington, Belmont, Bolton, Concord, Dover, Lancaster, Lexington, Needham and Stow) and area manufacturers.
Seeking partner
Minuteman hopes to partner with the SME Education Foundation, which assists young people who want to pursue careers in advanced manufacturing and other technology-based fields by providing them with scholarships, grants and other resources.
The foundation’s PRIME (Partnership Response to Manufacturing Education) program also has valuable resources for its member schools’ students, such as mentors, internships and connections to established industry professionals.
Minuteman is thriving. Construction on the new, $144.9 million Minuteman High School has begun, and the implementation of advanced manufacturing gives students another rigorous, 21st-century career pathway to select.
Roche called advanced manufacturing “the last piece of the puzzle — the piece that will bring everything together.”
This news announcement was published Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017.
