Despite yesterday’s summer afternoon heat, Nashoba Valley Technical High School drew a large crowd to help celebrate the grand opening for its newly remodeled Advanced Manufacturing Program. School Superintendent Denise Pigeon led the ceremony. On hand were State Representatives Sheila Harrington and James Arciero, State Senator Eileen Donoghue, former superintendent Judy Klimkiewicz, many school committee members, teachers and students.
The high school had recently received a $500,000 grant as part of the Massachusetts Workforce Skills Capital Grant Program. Along with additional program upgrades and renovations, this grant was used to update its Advanced Manufacturing program (formerly called the Machine Tool Technology program) with state-of-the-art computer aided (CNC) equipment to expand its training opportunities for both its student and adult education programs.
Speaking at the event, State Representative James Arciero mentioned that current projections show there will be up to 100,000 manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts by 2022, and high school technical programs like this will help build the skills needed to fill these jobs.
Encouraging the school to pursue future opportunities, Senator Donoghue mentioned that the Economic Development Bill passed by the Senate on July 31st included an additional $45 million for the workforce skills capital grant program in order to continue building technical education programs in Massachusetts.
