NBT awards 11 grants to community, technical colleges for youth day camps

Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs® (NBT), The Foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl. (FMA), Rockford, Ill., has announced the winners of its 2012 manufacturing camp grant awards.

NBT has awarded 11 grants of $1,500 to $2,500 each to community and technical colleges offering day camp experiences that introduce young people ages 12 to 18 to careers in manufacturing and engineering. Major sponsors of these camps are the CNA Foundation of Chicago and San Francisco-based CoreNet Inc.

The 2012 grant winners are:

• Arkansas State University, Beebe, Ark.
• Chabot College, Hayward, Calif.
• College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, Calif.
• Harper College, Palatine, Ill.
• Rock Valley College, Rockford, Ill.
• Triton College, River Forest, Ill.
• Itawamba Community College, Tupelo, Miss.
• Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, Ogden, Utah
• Thomas Nelson Community College, Hampton, Va.
• Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, Wis.
• Moraine Park Technical College, South Bend, Wis. (Affiliate only)

"We’re making an investment in the manufacturing workforce. We need to increase the pool of available, highly skilled workers to address the skilled-labor crisis as baby boomers retire. These camps provide youth with the exposure to vocational and technical trades that no longer exist in most public education systems. Introducing youth to well-paying, high-tech manufacturing careers will definitely improve future prospects for our economy," said Edward Youdell, president and CEO of FMA and NBT.

The camps expose youth to math, science, and engineering principles and give them opportunities to tour companies, work directly with technology, and design and manufacture a product to take home with them.