You might not expect the smallest school district in Connecticut to have a class on Advanced Manufacturing. But thanks to a partnership with Asnuntuck Community College, East Granby High is Making The Grade in the tech world.
Tim Testerman has been teaching industrial arts-type classes at East Granby High for so many years, he’s taught the parents of some current students. What he is teaching students has changed drastically.
"I wouldn't get rid of woodworking classes. I think they're very important. But the stuff they're getting now with Asnuntuck Community College and the 3D printing and the software is the future of manufacturing," Testerman said.
The partnership with Asnuntuck in Enfield, which puts its professors in East Granby classrooms, allows the high school in the state’s smallest school district to prepare students for careers in 21st century manufacturing.
“We have this memorandum of agreement with the community college that is enabling us to provide these additional authentic learning experiences for our students beyond what we would be able to offer just with our own resources,” said Christine Mahoney, Superintendent of East Granby schools.
In the near future, it gives students like Jacob Larson a year of community college under their belt, saving both time and money.
“It's definitely a great way of learning and understanding things before you go to college,” Larson said.
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For students like Shelby Roy, who don’t want a career in manufacturing, it’s an opportunity to learn at a college level in a way in which they want to learn.
“I'm more of a hands-on person, so I really enjoy this,” said Roy.
In the long term, manufacturers get skilled employees that don't need to be fully trained on the company's dime when they enter the workforce.
Students who go on to complete another year at Asnuntuck and earn their Associates Degree are automatically accepted into the Connecticut State University System and the University of Hartford.
