A newly established scholarship fund for students in underrepresented communities is a crucial component of the SME Education Foundation’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, designed to fully integrate diversity and equity opportunities in every program, effort and initiative undertaken by the foundation over the next five years.
Industry 4.0 ushered in new technologies, new products and new ways of working. It's imperative that high schools keep pace with the skills they teach students to prepare them for the manufacturing workforce. SME PRIME schools give manufacturing students a head start, as they inspire them to use and test the skills they learn in the classroom during regular class projects as well as occasional special assignments.
The SME Education Foundation awarded 222 scholarships totaling nearly $550,000 to graduating high school seniors, undergraduates and graduate students currently or planning to attend colleges, universities across the United States and Canada.
Manufacturing is not dirty. Manufacturing is high-tech. Manufacturing pays wells and leads to prosperous careers. Manufacturing is thriving in the United States. How can we change misperceptions about manufacturing? We can counter each statement with facts.
Racine Case High School in Wisconsin has transformed their SME PRIME program by creating a machine-repair career pathway, implementing new courses, and providing students with training experience using a Festo equipment training system.
Filling manufacturing jobs is a growing challenge across the country. Nearly 2.5 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled in the United States by 2030. Launched in May 2023, the Edwardsburg PRIME program is an important step to help strengthen the Southwest Michigan labor force and fill future manufacturing positions.
Airport Community School District recognized the rapidly changing innovations in the field of technology and has made a conscious effort to incorporate technology into educational programs to empower students to reach their goals.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has been instrumental in the SME PRIME schools’ program in two Southeast Michigan communities. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has distributed more than $1 billion through more than 67,000 grants to nonprofit organizations.
Ford NGL partnered with the SME Education Foundation through a Ford Motor Company Fund investment to develop an SME PRIME (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) curriculum at Romeo High School in Romeo, Michigan.
In the first phase of a new partnership between the Saginaw Intermediate School District (ISD) and the SME PRIME (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) initiative, the ISD will receive new manufacturing equipment while instructors at seven high schools receive virtual and on-site professional development.