Two northern Illinois students receive college scholarships from NBT

Left to right: Ron Schulz, Alex Kinney, Greg Wear, Ed Youdell

Two recent high school graduates from the northern Illinois area were each awarded $1,500 scholarships for postsecondary studies leading to careers in manufacturing from Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs®, the Foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl. The recipients are Kirk Dickson of Grayslake, Ill., and Alex Kinney of Shirland, Ill.

Dickson, Kinney, and their parents visited the FMA headquarters in Rockford, Ill., last week to receive congratulations from the president and CEO of FMA and NBT, Ed Youdell, as well as Teresa Beach-Shelow, president of Superior Joining Technologies, representing the boards of directors of both FMA and NBT.

Dickson will begin his college studies in mechanical engineering next month at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. His older brother recently graduated from the same program after having won a scholarship from NBT five years ago.

Kinney will begin his studies in welding technology at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill. Ron Schulz, associate dean, and Greg Wear, vice president at Rock Valley College, were present at FMA to extend their congratulations to Kinney and welcome him to the RVC program. Kinney also met with Amanda Carlson, editor of Practical Welding Today magazine, one of six industry magazines published by FMA Communications.

“We applaud Kinney and Dickson for being selected as 2014-15 scholarship winners and are pleased to assist them in fulfilling their academic goals,” said Youdell. “They both realize that working in manufacturing can be rewarding financially and fulfilling personally. With the educational paths they have chosen, they will be very competitive in the 21st century manufacturing job market.”

In addition to the monetary grant, each student also received from industry partner SolidWorks Corp. a copy of its Student Design Kit CAD software package.

NBT scholarships are awarded annually to college- or trade school-bound applicants who seek careers in manufacturing. This year scholarships totaling $26,000 were awarded to 16 winners from across the country.

To be eligible for the scholarships, applicants are required to be full-time students meeting a specified minimum GPA and enrolled in an engineering or manufacturing-related course of study or a trade or technical program leading to a career in manufacturing. Students are responsible for submitting academic records and an engineering or manufacturing-related program description with each application. For more information about next year’s awards, please visit www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org/scholarships.

Left to right: Kirk Dickson, Ed Youdell