Schools Receive Grant from Hypertherm
Hypertherm Inc. (Hanover, NH) announced the winners of their 2018 Spark Something Great Educational Grant that were selected from a record of nearly 150 grant applications, represent ten high schools, vocational schools, and community colleges in the United States and Canada. Now in its fourth year, this grant program aims to get the latest plasma technology into schools so the next generation of metalworkers can train on the equipment they will find once entering the workforce. Each school will receive a Powermax45 XP plasma system, the AWS SENSE-approved “Plasma Cutting Technology: Theory and Practice” curriculum kit, and in-person training from a Hypertherm industrial cutting expert.
“Choosing among the applications is extremely difficult, as we continue to see an enormous amount of need among programs teaching greater numbers of students with fewer tools,” stated Betsy Van Duyne, the manager of the company’s educational program. “This makes getting the right equipment into the hands of students even more critical, as many would not have the opportunity to learn how to use a modern plasma system without a grant like this.”
The 2018 Spark Something Great Grant recipients are as follows:
- Arkansas Welding Academy – Jacksonville, AR
- Cedar Community Secondary School – Nanaimo, BC (Canada)
- Central High School – Independence, O
- Fowler High School – Fowler, CA
- Homedale High School – Homedale, ID
- McAllen Memorial High School – McAllen, TX
- Northwest High School – Opelousas, LA
- Rogers High School – Toledo, OH
- SouthTech Academy – Boynton Beach, FL
- White County Central High School – Judsonia, AR
In addition to their Spark Something Great Grant, Hypertherm supports schools by offering educational discounts to teachers and students and by making plasma curriculum available for free downloads. To date, teachers from more than 1,600 schools have acquired the lesson plans, helping standardize the teaching of plasma cutting to thousands of students. The company also offers their ProNest for Education program that places ProNest CAD/CAM nesting software in schools. Since launching the program two years ago, Hypertherm has donated 79 ProNest packages valued at more than $13 million dollars.
