Spaulding High School students earn advanced manufacturing certificates through community partnership

A new partnership between Spaulding High School and Great Bay Community College will allow 13 Spaulding students to earn their Advanced Composites Manufacturing Certificate and OSHA 10 certification. The program is part of Spaulding’s Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) program, which gives students the opportunity to earn dual credit towards the certificate and high school credits towards graduation.

The program will prepare the students for high growth fields of composites manufacturing and aerospace. The students have different ideas for how the certificate can help them with what comes next:

Mason Taliaferro, 16, has always been interested in advanced manufacturing and says he is taking an engineering course at the high school right now.

Taliaferro said his love of building things started in a wood shop class.

Logan Goodwin, 17, and Michael Lovely, 16, both hope to use the certificate as they prepare to enter the military. Goodwin aspires to be a Naval officer one day.

PJ Perkins, 16, said traditional learning wasn’t working for him anymore. “I just wanted to be motivated by school again,” Perkins explained.

According to the Union Leader, Spaulding ELO Coordinator Dean Graziano began working on the partnership over a year ago. The certification program costs around $6,000 per student, but Graziano sought community partners to fund the program at no cost to the students:

Federal Savings Bank and Profile Bank presented Graziano with commitment checks during a special ceremony Monday morning.

Sharla Rollins, an assistant vice president of Federal Savings Bank, has been part of the extended learning opportunities strategic partner group.

“We are incredibly proud of our outstanding partnership with Rochester schools and to support these important education initiatives, driving students’ long-term success” Rollins said.

The initiative is another step in the state’s effort to retain skilled workers as part of the 65/25 initiative:

“Rochester, with its rich tradition and strong manufacturers, makes perfect sense for this initiative to start here! The main goal is to allow students to begin Advanced Composites Manufacturing training, tuition-free, while being a part of their secondary school education,” said Dean Graziano, ELO coordinator for Rochester Schools.

“Helping prepare students to enter their career, with the skills, attitudes, and responsibility necessary to be successful in a post-secondary career path was the impetus behind the program” said Graziano. “In addition, it helps students to transition from school to work through an accredited program.”

…In addition, the program helps students to transition from school to work at various local participating manufacturers through an accredited program, while exhibiting the long-range goal of the NH DOE 65/25 initiative.

65 by 25 is the goal that 65 percent of New Hampshire adults age 25 and over will have some form of post-secondary education, from certificates to advanced degrees, by 2025. Furthermore, on a regional and state level it increases workforce retention in a key sector-manufacturing.

Schools around the state are offering ELOs that allow students to explore careers and fields of study, including those that may not be available in the traditional curriculum. Learn more:

Sources: New program offers advance training while students are still in high school (Foster’s Daily Democrat) & Great Bay Community College, Spaulding High team up for manufacturing program (Union Leader)