wrustle
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Location
- Massachusetts
Earlier this year we reached out to a couple of the local technical schools to see if they had any co-op student placement programs.
The schools in turn contacted us back and gave us their documentation to review, the requirements and paperwork we would need to provide and they explained in explicit detail how their programs work, and what is to be expected from us as an employer/teacher.
After deciding which school would be potentially a good fit for our location and our shop, we set up a meeting with one of the machine shop teachers. He came out to our shop, we showed him around, and explained to him what our needs were, and the desire to give a student the opportunity to get established in the trade they were choosing in school.
Being a small family shop, I personally felt it would be a great way to kind of give back to the community by bringing in a local student that we could teach on a more personal level, rather than being lost in a larger shop where the odds of becoming just a number rather than a part of the family environment would help them to become more of an accomplished and confident employee.
After filling out and submitting some paperwork for background checks, legal business documents, and proof of insurances, we waited for approval.
A week or two went by and the good news came back that we were indeed approved for a co-op student to begin a classroom slash working classroom program.
The program works as follows.
During the the school year, the student will spend one week of time in class at the school, and the following week, they would report to work for that week. The program is only available to juniors and seniors.
Since we were getting involved in this program late in the school year, (I believe we started the beginning of April) we decided on working with a junior, as a senior would only be available for just a few weeks before their school year ended, and there was no guarantee they would want to work for us once they graduated from school.
The school recommended a student to us and an interview was set up. The young man came highly recommended to us by the school as they were very proud of the fact that during a regional machining class competition he came in third for programming out of all the students, juniors and seniors.
In any event.........he came in to the shop, I showed him around, and explained everything I would be expecting of him, and everything I would be personally working with him on to help further his education in machining.
He started back in the beginning of May, and was working every other week for us, and doing very well. He was very knowledgeable, had a good work ethic, and eager to learn!
He knew pretty much all the basics, and there was not a lot I had to worry about. At school they have all Haas machines, so he knows the control inside and out. He instantly fit right in, knew how to run the machines, had basic set up knowledge, and could even do simple edits on the control without hesitation.
I was VERY impressed............especially considering the fact, here was a young man just coming to be 17 years old. Oh........and by the way, this was his second job. Yes.......this kid was now working two jobs.
How's that for work ethic!
Fast forward now to this very moment, and he has just completed his first full week of full time work in the shop! Yes, sir........I asked him a couple weeks ago if he was interested in staying on through the summer full time, and his reply was, "YES!". He even quit his other part time job in order to do so.
He has been a great kid. Always on time, always does a very good job, has a great attitude, and best of all, always wanting to learn more.............and as a bonus..........he's one of these guys that you show him something once............and he's got it! Very impressed!
He's been working on the VMC's since he started here and that's all he's done at school this past year, so just this week, I've spent the last few days with him with "hands on" training on our ST20 Cnc lathe.
After a couple of jobs with really close quarters work with the turret right up next to the chuck and him being a little nervous, I asked, "How do you like working on the lathe?" He turned to me all kinda red in the face due to some puckering going on while watching though the window and said, "I think I like working on the mills much better!"
I had a good laugh, he smiled, and went back to nervously watching though the window again with his hand hovering over the "Feed Hold" button.............you know...........just in case!
Here was the gang a couple weeks ago.
Dominic in the foreground, who actually just left a week ago to move back to Oklahoma with his family. He was a general shop hand (sawcutting, deburring, receiving, maintenance) and despite only being gone just a week, is sorely missed already!! Luckily I have a new replacement I just hired starting the day after July 4th so hopefully life will be good once again soon!!
Andrew over on the right running the VF-2SS, and Quinn, our co-op student on the left running the Samsung MCV400.
The other day Quinn came in wearing this T-shirt. I just had to get a picture while he was running our VFO.
Somehow, I get the feeling this guy is just going to be a perfect fit in the manufacturing environment!!
Later,
Russ!
The schools in turn contacted us back and gave us their documentation to review, the requirements and paperwork we would need to provide and they explained in explicit detail how their programs work, and what is to be expected from us as an employer/teacher.
After deciding which school would be potentially a good fit for our location and our shop, we set up a meeting with one of the machine shop teachers. He came out to our shop, we showed him around, and explained to him what our needs were, and the desire to give a student the opportunity to get established in the trade they were choosing in school.
Being a small family shop, I personally felt it would be a great way to kind of give back to the community by bringing in a local student that we could teach on a more personal level, rather than being lost in a larger shop where the odds of becoming just a number rather than a part of the family environment would help them to become more of an accomplished and confident employee.
After filling out and submitting some paperwork for background checks, legal business documents, and proof of insurances, we waited for approval.
A week or two went by and the good news came back that we were indeed approved for a co-op student to begin a classroom slash working classroom program.
The program works as follows.
During the the school year, the student will spend one week of time in class at the school, and the following week, they would report to work for that week. The program is only available to juniors and seniors.
Since we were getting involved in this program late in the school year, (I believe we started the beginning of April) we decided on working with a junior, as a senior would only be available for just a few weeks before their school year ended, and there was no guarantee they would want to work for us once they graduated from school.
The school recommended a student to us and an interview was set up. The young man came highly recommended to us by the school as they were very proud of the fact that during a regional machining class competition he came in third for programming out of all the students, juniors and seniors.
In any event.........he came in to the shop, I showed him around, and explained everything I would be expecting of him, and everything I would be personally working with him on to help further his education in machining.
He started back in the beginning of May, and was working every other week for us, and doing very well. He was very knowledgeable, had a good work ethic, and eager to learn!
He knew pretty much all the basics, and there was not a lot I had to worry about. At school they have all Haas machines, so he knows the control inside and out. He instantly fit right in, knew how to run the machines, had basic set up knowledge, and could even do simple edits on the control without hesitation.
I was VERY impressed............especially considering the fact, here was a young man just coming to be 17 years old. Oh........and by the way, this was his second job. Yes.......this kid was now working two jobs.
How's that for work ethic!
Fast forward now to this very moment, and he has just completed his first full week of full time work in the shop! Yes, sir........I asked him a couple weeks ago if he was interested in staying on through the summer full time, and his reply was, "YES!". He even quit his other part time job in order to do so.
He has been a great kid. Always on time, always does a very good job, has a great attitude, and best of all, always wanting to learn more.............and as a bonus..........he's one of these guys that you show him something once............and he's got it! Very impressed!
He's been working on the VMC's since he started here and that's all he's done at school this past year, so just this week, I've spent the last few days with him with "hands on" training on our ST20 Cnc lathe.
After a couple of jobs with really close quarters work with the turret right up next to the chuck and him being a little nervous, I asked, "How do you like working on the lathe?" He turned to me all kinda red in the face due to some puckering going on while watching though the window and said, "I think I like working on the mills much better!"
I had a good laugh, he smiled, and went back to nervously watching though the window again with his hand hovering over the "Feed Hold" button.............you know...........just in case!
Here was the gang a couple weeks ago.
Dominic in the foreground, who actually just left a week ago to move back to Oklahoma with his family. He was a general shop hand (sawcutting, deburring, receiving, maintenance) and despite only being gone just a week, is sorely missed already!! Luckily I have a new replacement I just hired starting the day after July 4th so hopefully life will be good once again soon!!
Andrew over on the right running the VF-2SS, and Quinn, our co-op student on the left running the Samsung MCV400.
The other day Quinn came in wearing this T-shirt. I just had to get a picture while he was running our VFO.
Somehow, I get the feeling this guy is just going to be a perfect fit in the manufacturing environment!!
Later,
Russ!