Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
SHOALS – The opportunity for Shoals High School to explore adding another career pathway is being made possible thanks to a partnership with Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane and the USSOCOM Mobile Technology & Repair Complex.
Shoals High School received a variety of prototyping and fabrication equipment including, 3D printers, welder, CNC plasma table, benchtop water jet, mill and generator.
Much of the equipment is used in advanced manufacturing settings. Shoals currently has career pathways in construction and agriculture, but not manufacturing.
Resources, staff, space and schedules can affect a school’s ability to add pathways. Construction and ag teacher Ben Kent said having the equipment is a good first step in order to consider if the school could offer a manufacturing pathway, which would include skills needed to work in fabrication.
“We’re ripe for adding fabrication,” Kent said. “With Crane nearby and the amount of sub-contractors that build for Crane, this is a great opportunity for our students.”
The partnership developed after Rapid Innovation and Prototyping Laboratory Manager Nick Sanders and Asymmetric Warfare Branch and MTRC Manager Nathen Storey, both graduates of Shoals High School, toured the school last year.
“We’ve partnered with the local school to help enable students to get more experience, insight, and hands-on training in STEM fields as well as expand the class’s capabilities,” said Storey.
The official mission of the MTRC is to “provide a rapid, deployable US government engineering capability to repair, modify, and enhance current capabilities as well as design, engineer and fabricate new equipment to increase the lethality and survivability of Special Operations Forces Operators, partner forces, the intelligence community, and others, worldwide.”
Through the years of supporting the Mobile Technology & Repair Complex, the Expeditionary Engineering Branch at NSWC Crane has developed a network of more than 200 engineers, scientists and specialists from warfare centers across the US that can support rapid and point-of-need engineering, prototyping and fabrications.
The equipment opens a door for new skills that can lead to future employment opportunities for students.
“This came out of nowhere,” Kent said of the equipment. “I couldn’t be more appreciative of this. We will utilize this equipment as best as we can.”
Crane and MTRC plan on hosting Kent and engineering teacher Megan Hawkins in one of their rapid prototyping courses this summer. Future collaborations and projects involving Shoals students are also being explored.
Community support for education
Community partnerships are bringing new opportunities to students in Martin County. Last year, $60,000 in community donations funded the construction of a new ag barn at Shoals High School. The barn was built by SHS students in the ag and construction programs. The new barn was a key piece in the ag program’s goal of growing its farm-to-school initiative of serving food raised by Shoals students in the school cafeteria.
In 2023, a county-wide effort to start a Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) program for juniors and seniors in Shoals and Loogootee high schools received $70,000 in commitments. The CEO program will launch this fall. Over the course of the school year, students will visit area businesses, hear from guest speakers, participate in a class business, write business plans, and start and operate their own businesses.