A decades-long national bias against vocational careers continues to inform high school graduates that four-year college degrees are the only option for achieving success. Government data tells us otherwise. There are millions jobs in the United States that pay an average of $55,000 per year and don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to transform the nature of manufacturing and engineering work. While low-skill, lower-wage jobs could be phased out, newer technologies will create new high-skill, higher-wage jobs.
The SME Education Foundation supports the Additive Manufacturing Competition and Tooling U-SME’s Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals Certification exam at the annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky by providing scholarships to the high school winners of the contest.
SME PRIME students at Hawthorne High School near Los Angeles, CA recently graduated from South Bay Workforce Investment Board’s (SBWIB) Aero-Flex Pre-Apprenticeship program. The 23 students from the schools manufacturing and engineering program will leave high school better prepared to directly enter the workforce upon graduation.
Shape Corp., a global tier-one automotive and industrial component supplier, is the latest manufacturer to join the growing list of companies partnering with the SME Education Foundation to expand its exemplary manufacturing education program for high school students.
In 2012, we awarded $521,400 to 205 students across the country, with awards ranging from $1,000 to $70,000.
New to the AeroDef Manufacturing event this year is a special half-day student engagement program, that will connect Southern California SME PRIME high school students to real-world aerospace and defense manufacturing technologies.
Six high schools from the metro Detroit area brought 174 enthusiastic young minds to RAPID + TCT May 20-23 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan where the entire additive manufacturing community convened and where industry-accelerating products were launched.