PRACTICAL, PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Equals Employability, a Win-Win for Employers and Students
What do Humvees traversing Afghanistan’s rugged terrain have to do with students at Northville Central High School? Students assisted Johnstown manufacturer Electro-Metrics in the prototyping process for the vehicle’s antennae and a gun mount, right in the fabrication lab at their school, thereby playing an important part in providing this critical equipment to the United States military.
This is just one example of the real-world experience that students gain in Northville Central High School’s Advanced Fabrication Technology Program.
In 2016, Northville Central School superintendent Leslie Ford teamed up with middle school and high school principal Kyle McFarland and his teaching staff to create a program that would not only serve its students but also provide workforce development for local employers. Later that year, the school began offering the classes that would, in 2019, officially become the Advanced Fabrication Technology Program.
“We do a great job preparing kids for college-the traditional pathway,” McFarland said.
“I always had this vision of strengthening programs for those students that school isn’t for them—they just want to get out there and work,” he explained.
The program not only equips students with the skills to earn a livable wage right out of high school, but it also serves students who continue on to other pathway programs to earn associate degrees Equals Employability, a Win-Win for Employers and Students.
This is just one example of the real-world experience that students gain in Northville Central High School’s Advanced Fabrication Technology Program. In 2016, Northville Central School superintendent Leslie Ford teamed up with middle school and high school principal Kyle McFarland and his teaching staff to create a program that would not only serve its students but also provide workforce development for local employers.
Later that year, the school began offering the classes that would, in 2019, officially become the Advanced Fabrication Technology Program. “We do or who choose four-year colleges.
“We want to connect real-life issues, project-based learning, the expertise of teachers, and the interests of kids and regional businesses,” Ford said.
They intentionally designed the program to be as well-rounded as possible, but without a designated, specific outcome like a BOCES program.
Ford points out that they were not looking for students to leave the program with a certificate, but with the skills that open up a variety of options for local employment.
McFarland and his teaching staff created the program while keeping local employers and the area’s educational resources in mind. The majority of graduates who do attend college move back to the county after graduation, McFarland said.
He and his staff asked themselves,
“How could we strengthen giving our students opportunities to work and to work in a field that is exploding?”
They kept local manufacturers as well as the region’s nanoscience industry in mind.
The program integrates coursework, project-based learning, and business partnerships to prepare students for work in engineering and other technology-related fields.
In addition to traditional high school coursework, students take classes in digital design and production, CNC (computer numerical control) machining (the school has three CNC machines), computer-aided manufacturing, and technical math. They take part in vinyl cutter training and learn how to use a 3-D printer.
Students also have the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school. Coursework includes projects to assist local businesses, using the lab’s equipment, which match the components of a university-level fabrication lab, according to McFarland. The program has strong partnerships with several area employers. As a result, students tour local workplaces and interact with business professionals through panel discussions and professional skills seminars, job shadowing, and internships.
The program has been a boon for both students and area employers. One graduate went to work at a local convenience store after graduation. Not long thereafter, he called McFarland to tell him that Electro-Metrics had contacted him, asking him to interview for a job. By September, the company hired the graduate of the high school’s Advanced Fabrication Technology Program, providing training and full benefits.“That is what a program like this can do,” McFarland said.
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