In the ever-evolving landscape of automotive employment and education, the workforce development team has been diligently working to help bridge the gap between skills and opportunities afforded to students and instructors, and members’ automotive businesses.
On April 19, high school automotive instructors from all over the state joined us at Nashua Community College where we held our annual Spring Instructor Training. This year had a heavy focus on OEM manufacturer training that is available to high school students. Instructors can use this resource to supplement their curriculum if they choose, and it even gives the students a jump start to manufacturer certifications that transfer out of high school. Presenters that joined us included Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Toyota Motor Corporation. The instructors learned about the different programs available and provided the presenters with some feedback on ways to improve the programs for better use in the high school setting.
In addition to the presenters, we were also able to spend some collaboration time with schools to discuss some best practices and solve some concerns. The goal of this was for some unified career development and future success with the students coming out of these programs and into the industry.
On another front, we have spent the last few months on a tour across New Hampshire, promoting the automotive career trade to almost all the high school automotive career technical education (CTE) centers. This has led to a number of job connections and an enormous amount of automotive scholarship applications. The Education Foundation’s Scholarship Committee met on May 11th to review all the applications and awarded scholarships that have started to be distributed.
As fall approaches, we will prepare for the coming school year and connect with as many members as possible to discuss workforce development resources. It is our goal at the Education Foundation to develop a skilled and highly educated workforce to ensure a strong future for New Hampshire’s Automotive Industry. With the collaboration of our members, as well as our education partners, we are confident that this year will prove to be a big success!