TMA Education Foundation awards grant to Maine West

The Technology and Manufacturing Association's (TMA) Education Foundation has awarded Maine West High School a $32,250 grant. Maine West's Career and Technical Education department used the funds to purchase a HAAS ST10 CNC Lathe.

"It is because of TMA's generosity we were able to purchase a lathe that will be utilized in a multiple of our manufacturing courses," says Samantha Archer, CTE chair at Maine West.

"This gives our students such an authentic experience to actually be hands-on with equipment and gain an authentic experience in this career field."

In total, the TMA Foundation has awarded $46,750 to Maine Township High School District 207 schools, and the foundation has awarded more than $2.5 million in grants in total since 1995. The U.S. manufacturing industry is facing an industry shortage in workers and TMA has found that its members' biggest challenge is finding new talent.

The foundation's funds have been used to upgrade schools' equipment and facilities, provide education and career materials, financial assistance to students and teachers, industry advisers to education, along with many other initiatives to help address labor needs in the tooling, machining and manufacturing sector.