NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — McCann Technical School senior Emily Belanger received a Travers Tool High School Senior Level Annual Tooling Scholarship for her chess set project.

 

Belanger, an advanced manufacturing technology student from North Adams, will receive $500 worth of tools useful for students pursuing careers in manufacturing.

 

"It has always been my dream to pursue manufacturing. Machining parts and designing is like a sixth sense, everything comes to me with ease," she wrote in a personal essay included with her application. "Being able to make a part within a thousandths of tolerance makes me feel like I did my job right, and that I have a true gift."

 

According to a project description, Belanger designed each individual chess piece and machined each piece from aluminum or brass.

 

She engraved or created pockets on each piece as needed on the mill and gave each piece a smooth finish to allow safe handling and gameplay.

 

"We created programs using the lathe to create certain arcs and diameters to change the size of the original stock," Belanger wrote. "If the parts needed additional work done to them (engravings, pockets, etc) we would then take it to the mill machine and create it there. It was one of the most fun projects I’ve ever made."

 

Scholarships are awarded to one underclass high school student, one high school senior class student, and one college student in the United States or Canada.

 

These tool scholarships are designed to lessen the financial burden students face and allow them to join the ranks of skilled machinists, CNC operators, welders, and exacting craftsmen that make up the fabric of the manufacturing industry. 

 

Travers is a metalworking and industrial supply superstore located in  Flushing, N.Y. It has distribution centers in South Carolina and California.