Keystone Today

The Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career Program (MTTC) has been beneficial for students and businesses in a variety of fields across Pennsylvania, and this week Gov. Tom Wolf announced that there is new funding available for the Brockway Area School District that will go toward preparing students for careers in manufacturing and machining.

MTTC funds in the amount of $25,092 will be used to buy a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router to provide junior and senior higher school students with real-world experience with equipment and programs they would use in a professional, industrial setting; a May 10 press release from the governor’s office said. The router will allow students to gain new skills and reinforce ones they have already acquired through classroom learning. Areas include programming, engineering, woodworking, plotting, computer-aided design (CAD) and other skills. The router will also let students improve projects that they have already been working on.

“Technology is an integral part of the manufacturing industry,” Wolf said in the release. “As technology continues to advance, it is in the commonwealth’s best interest to keep our students at the forefront. Ensuring young adults are as prepared as possible to enter the workforce will help keep manufacturing as one of Pennsylvania’s key industries.”

Brockway Jr./Sr. High School has worked with industries in the community, and the manufacturing and woodworking industries are two that are in need of skilled, experienced workers who can operate machinery properly. The machines in these industries are CNC-controlled, and the new funding will help prepare students to be ready to use them post-graduation.

“Even though Brockway is a small rural school, we are able to give our students a new experience that will help them be better prepared to enter the workforce or a trade school,” Brockway Area School District agriculture education teacher Kyle Norman said in the release. “Thanks to this grant, our students can get the necessary training to be competitive in the job market after high school.”

The Training-to Career grants support projects for short-term work readiness, job placement and more. The program works with local manufacturers on what they need from entry-level applicants to be successful and hit the ground running. Since the Manufacturing PA Initiative was launched by the Wolf administration in October 2017, it has funded 69 projects with more than $15.4 million in investments through the Training-to-Career program.