KENT COUNTY, MI – Local manufacturers need employees who have hands-on experience in the advanced manufacturing as it continues to be a leading economic driver in West Michigan, says Ron Koehler, superintendent of the Kent Intermediate School District.
A x-year, $900,000 grant will help Kent ISD consolidate its manufacturing training programming to create a more integrated and centralized training experience at the Kent Career Tech Center, Koehler told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.
Currently, the Kent ISD’s manufacturing training is spread out across several campuses due to space constraints. The Tech Center serves thousands of students in 20 school districts supported by the education agency.
“What we hope to accomplish is through the facilities redesign process, just to co-locate all the manufacturing related programming into one area so that students experience the totality of advancement in the advanced manufacturing environment,” Koehler said.
“So that would include robotics, welding, our computer aided design and drafting, precision machining, and it would all be there together to give students a concept of what that what that environment looks like.”
The grant funding is a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act which was recently signed by President Biden after approval from Congress. The community project was put forward and ushered through the process by U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids, a Kent ISD release said.
The funds will be used to redesign the ISD’s manufacturing facilities as well as purchase state-of-the-art equipment, Koehler explained.
Koehler said the ISD has been “redoubling” its efforts in recent years to partner with local manufacturers and place K-12 students in work-based learning environments.
Local manufacturers have expressed a need for more pipeline programs that give K-12 students hands-on experience using industry standard equipment and connecting them to jobs in the field of manufacturing, Koehler said.
“They (employers) have expressed clearly to us that they want to create tracks that will go from K-12 to community college to the shop floor,” he said. “There has been an ongoing demand for more employees and for students who are pursuing manufacturing as their avocation.”
“They would prefer students who have had the opportunity to experience the manufacturing environment and aspire to be part of it, as opposed to students who might have gone to college for sociology or psychology, find that they can’t find a job and then end up in a manufacturing space.”
Koehler said the ISD has readjusted its efforts for exposing high school students to different career pathways like advanced manufacturing in recent years.
While the ISD used to focus on hosting career expo events to introduce students to different career pathways, Koehler said the ISD now focuses on directly consulting with school districts to expose students to career exploration.
“We’ve gone from an event-oriented model to one that’s directly consulting with school districts, so that we can directly understand what they need to better expose students to career opportunities and career exploration,” he said. “And then align that to what we offer, what the employers need, and what the community college and other postsecondary institutions offer, so that we can do a better job of filling that pipeline.”
Koehler said they are still getting clarification on if the grant is for this fiscal year or if it extends beyond.
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