Grants Awarded to Community and Technical Colleges Offering Summer Day Camp Experiences Focused on Manufacturing for Youth

Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs® (NBT), the foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl.® (FMA), announces that 63 programs will receive 2017 summer manufacturing camp grants. NBT will award 46 funding grants, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500, for a total of $90,500 to community and technical colleges offering summer day camp experiences that introduce young people ages 12 to 16 to careers in manufacturing and engineering. In addition, NBT will support 17 affiliate camps. After a camp has received 3 years of funding from NBT and has become self-sustaining with support from local resources, they can apply as an affiliate. Affiliate camps receive no funding but NBT continues to support them with curriculum guides, customized camp t-shirts, marketing help, and other materials. Major sponsors of these camps are the CNA Foundation of Chicago, Mastercut Tool Corporation, and Disney/ABC Television.

The 2017 camp grant winners are (listed alphabetically by school name):

• Anoka Technical College*, Anoka, Minn.
• Arkansas State University Newport-Jonesboro, Jonesboro, Ark.
• Bergen Community College, Paramus, N.J.
• Bismarck State College*, Bismarck, N.D.
• Burton Center for Arts & Technology, Salem, Va.
• Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, N.C.
• College of the Canyons*, Santa Clarita, Calif.
• Davis Applied Technology Center, Kaysville, Utah
• FLATE – Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, Fla.
• Fox Valley Technical College*, Appleton, Wis.
• Gateway Technical College*, Racine, Wis.
• Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Shawnee, Okla.
• Harper College*, Palatine, Ill.
• Henry Ford College*, Dearborn, Mich.
• Housatonic Community College Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center, Bridgeport, Conn.
• Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa, Iowa
• Itawamba Community College, Belden, Miss
• John Wood Community College, Quincy, Ill.
• Lake Park High School, Roselle, Ill.
• Lake-Sumter State College, Leesburg, Fla.
• Linn Benton Community College, Albany, Ore.
• Manatee Technical College, Bradenton, Fla.
• Manchester Community College*, Manchester, N.H.
• Marshall University Research Corporation, Huntington, W.Va.
• Midlands Technical College Success Center/Fairfield Central High School*, Winnsboro, S.C.
• Moraine Park Technical College*, West Bend, Wis.
• Mount Shasta High School Manufacturing Business Center Pathway, Mount Shasta, Calif.
• Northeast Alabama Community College*, Rainsville, Ala.
• Northeast Mississippi Community College, Corinth, Miss
• Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Green Bay, Wis.
• Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, Fla.
• Northwest State Community College, Archbold, Ohio
• Prairie State College*, Chicago Heights, Ill.
• Ranken Technical College, St. Louis, Mo.
• Sno Isle TECH Center, Everett, Wash.
• Southside Virginia Community College, Alberta, Va.
• St. Charles Community College*, Cottleville, Mo.
• St. Petersburg College, Clearwater, Fla.
• Tech Valley High School, Albany, N.Y.
• Thomas Nelson Community College*, Hampton, Va.
• Triton College*, River Grove, Ill.
• Vincennes University-Jasper Campus, Jasper, Ind.
• Zane State College, Zanesville, Ohio

*FMA Certified Education Center members

The camps target middle- and high school-aged youth, introducing them to practical applications of math, science and engineering principles and giving them opportunities to tour local manufacturing companies, work directly with technology, and design and manufacture a product they can take home. SolidWorks Corporation supports these camps with a generous donation of 365-day licenses of their CAD/CAM student edition design software.

“The demand for highly-skilled manufacturing professionals is growing each year and we don’t see that demand subsiding for decades,” said Warren Long, NBT Board Chair and Commodity Manager, Briggs & Stratton Products Group. “It is NBT’s mission to find the workforce of the future and summer camps introduce young people to manufacturing in a way that sparks their passion for making things. Camp participants learn about the companies in their area and they leave camp excited and encouraged to pursue the skills training they need for a successful career in manufacturing. Inspiring young people to consider these careers will have a positive impact on technical education programs, create a more qualified workforce, and secure American manufacturing for the next generation.”

Edward Youdell, president and CEO of FMA and NBT added, “the manufacturing skilled labor shortage won’t solve itself. These camps provide youth with exposure to vocational and technical trades that no longer is available in most public education systems. For most of the young people who attend these camps it is their first introduction to how things are made and what skills are required for entry into the world of manufacturing. They also discover that the training they will need to get started is readily available in their local community at the very school where they are attending camp.”

Learn more about NBT Manufacturing Camps.