The WESTEC 2019 Student Summit will host over 200 high school students and introduce them to the high tech and exciting career available in the modern manufacturing industry through hands-on challenges and competitions, guided event show-floor tours and technology demonstrations, and inspirational industry guest speakers.
170 high school students from 11 schools descended upon the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts from May 14-16 eager to explore and discover manufacturing career opportunities at the SME Education Foundation’s Student Summit event series at EASTEC.
The career and technical education opportunities at Cazenovia High School through SME PRIME are both forward-thinking and very current. The foundations are built early on as even elementary school-age students take part in summer camps and introductory technology programs at the school.
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.
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.
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.
Romeo High School students gain practical experience, knowledge and skills using modern technology and equipment through SME PRIME and its partners Ford Motor Company Fund and Ford Next Generation Learning.
LINK Engineering is a key investor in the SME PRIME school program at Starkweather Academy, part of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools in Michigan.
In part 2 of our series on the SME PRIME program at The Four Cities Compact schools in Ohio you’ll read more about the passionate instructors and the energetic young minds charting their career path in the manufacturing and engineering industries.