McCann Hears Presentation on Advanced Manufacturing Program
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — McCann Technical School's advanced manufacturing department, which has received significant upgrades over the last several years, presented a progress update to the school committee on student and department development.
"The shop has gone over a complete transformation from where it was three or four years ago," said Tom Matuszak, a teacher in the advanced manufacturing department. "We've upgraded computers; we've upgraded machines. We operate in software. And everything that we have is so aligned to what's going on in the industry right now."
Matuszak and four students in the department presented projects to the School Committee earlier this month. He said many of the advanced manufacturing students, including juniors and seniors, have already garnered interest from potential employers.
"These kids are at such a big advantage when it comes out to where they're going to be when they graduate, if not before that," he said. "All the kids here that are before you right now, they've all been on co-op interviews over the last week or so, and they are going to go on more."
A student who participated in one of these co-op interviews, George Kipp, said the resources he and other students in the department provide many benefits.
"I think that the technology we have in the shop is incredible, for me to be able to make this. The industry standards, this is like beyond that," he said. "When I went in for my interview, I showed this off, and they were like, 'This is crazy.' That's the stuff that they do there, and so for me to already have that knowledge, they really liked that."
Another student, Jacob Touponce, was able to design and manufacture wrenches as a class project that the school would have needed to purchase otherwise.
"Mr. Matuszak gave me a project to do, and we would have had to spend $400 on new wrenches. And I did it under the cost of $50," he said.
Matuszak said student proficiency in the department is far beyond what high school students are generally capable of doing.
"We've had two advisory board members that were here over the last couple of weeks. And both of them said to us, as teachers, that the things that these high school kids are doing are things that some people in the industry cannot perform," he said. "And they're performing that well over high school-related material."
McCann Superintendent James Brosnan said he was proud of what advanced manufacturing students have accomplished.
"You four have exhibited, in everything you've done, the initiative to say, 'I want to do better, I want to do best. I want to continue to improve,'" Brosnan said. "And that's that is remarkable. We can we're very proud of you for doing that."
School Committee Chair Gary Rivers said the work by the advanced manufacturing students and faculty is proof of the significant strides by the department since the school opened. He explained things were much different when the school first opened.
"Every one of those machines [when the school first opened] was Navy surplus," he said. "They took them off of a boat and brought them in here, and they were making parts for World War Two Korea with those machines."
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