Academy aims to create clear pathway to manufacturing jobs
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The Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center, or IN-MaC, is partnering with Ivy Tech Community College Lafayette to launch an initiative creating a high school-to-career pathway for students in Montgomery and Boone counties.
The Industrial Career Academy is designed to connect students with industry partners to help them not only get skills training and work experience in the manufacturing industry, but also make informed decisions upon graduation.
In-MaC Program Manager Lisa Deck says providing students with a supervised training plan from industry partners will help them fully understand the potential of careers in manufacturing, particularly in the area of industrial electrical maintenance.
“We strive to align our high school curriculum with the Next Level Program of Study that fits those industry needs,” said Deck. “We pride ourselves in making sure that we have embedded deep, work-based learning opportunities for these students.”
The two-year program will open to high school juniors and seniors in the Crawfordsville, North Montgomery, Southmont and Western Boone school districts.
The industry partners participating in the ICA include Lakeside Book Co., an Illinois-based printing services company with a presence in Crawfordsville, as well as Pace Dairy Foods, among others.
Juniors in the program will work one day per week with an industry partner, following a supervised training plan. In the first semester of their senior year, students will move up to three days per week before moving into a paid internship in the second semester.
Students will also be able to earn credits at Ivy Tech and work toward an Industrial Electrical Certificate.
Deck said the program is based on the academic, technical and professional or durable skills that students need to be successful, including having the knowledge of what they want to do after graduating high school.
“We want students to be able to graduate out of this program and then make that informed choice of knowing what all the careers under the roof of a manufacturing organization looks like, but also understanding maybe what postsecondary track they need to take for their next step, or we have students that want to just enter directly into the workforce,” she said.
The academy is similar to 4T Academy in Gibson County, a partnership between IN-MaC and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, as well as the Baron Advanced Manufacturing program at DeKalb High School.
Deck said the academy model is one that can easily be replicated in other parts of the state.
“It starts with having a school corporation and industry partners and community stakeholders willing to sit down and start talking about what this could look like for them. All models are built locally in their own community, so that it meets their community needs. We’re trying to make sure that our students are coming out of this and they potentially will stay local. We’re trying to keep the local workforce viable and fill that pipeline.”
The ICA is slated to begin this fall.