Scholarships can mean much more than financial support, says Kyle Riegel, recipient of the 2008 SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship. Kyle is a field sales engineer with Schunk Carbon Technology in Iowa. A 2008 graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, Kyle currently serves on their engineering board.
Receiving the SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship has played a huge part in the life and career of Erin Manthey, an applied math instructor in the welding program at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) in Minnesota. With the help of the scholarship, Manthey attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in manufacturing engineering while minoring in math.
The SME Education Foundation annually awards millions of dollars in scholarships to graduating SME Student Members who are graduating high school seniors, undergraduates and graduate students pursuing two-year, four-year or advanced degrees in manufacturing or engineering.
Since 2011, SME PRIME has reached nearly 100,000 students in 60 communities across 22 states.
Students across the state have new opportunities to learn some very important, and applicable skills for careers, in science, technology, engineering and manufacturing.
SME PRIME students at the Saginaw Career Complex in Michigan recently participated in a student engagement activity that included a hands-on supply chain exercise with representatives from Dow Chemical Co., a partner of the Saginaw Intermediate School District (ISD).
The Saginaw Intermediate School District (ISD)’s SME PRIME initiative has focused on increasing the involvement of women in the technology program by hosting a number of female students at their manufacturing, engineering and welding summer camp.
A grant from the SME Education Foundation’s PRIME initiative helped Capital High School — located in Helena, Montana — purchase a new CNC plasma cutter and ironworker for the school's machining, welding and mechanical engineering programs.
In the wake of COVID-19, educators at Pine Bush High School and Saginaw Intermediate School District (ISD) — both of which are part of SME’s PRIME (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) program — have taken creative approaches to learning. Pine Bush High School students returned to school virtually in early September. At Saginaw ISD in Michigan, the back-to-school experience in Fall 2020 includes a combination of remote, hybrid and face-to-face learning, including Tooling U-SME online coursework.