MAVA Collogues,
Exciting news from MAVA member Taconic High School in Pittsfield. We congratulate Tammy Gage, Assistant Superintendent for College and Career Readiness, for securing the funding and expanding opportunities for her Chapter 74 vocational technical & agricultural students.
David
Taconic High School received $1 million from the state to update equipment for metal fabrication and horticulture tracks
Matt Martinez, The Berkshire Eagle Oct 24, 2024
Students in Taconic High School’s horticulture program weed a community garden at the school in 2023. The horticulture program is one of two career and technical education tracks at the school to receive equipment thanks to a grant from the state.
PITTSFIELD — A $1 million state grant for Taconic High School will allow the school to update and purchase equipment for its metal fabrication and horticulture programs.
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Education announced that Taconic was one of 18 high schools in the commonwealth to receive Skills Capital Lab Modernization grants this year. A total of $17 million in grants were distributed statewide, according to a press release from the Executive Office of Education.
Tammy Gage, assistant superintendent for college and career readiness for the Pittsfield Public Schools, said the grant helps schools modernize existing equipment used for career and technical education or purchase new equipment to increase the number of students in a particular program.
Taconic’s metal fabrication and joining technologies program, which trains students to become welders and metal fabrication technicians, will be getting a little bit of both, Gage said. The grant will contribute to updating older machines and acquiring new ones, which will help students meet the latest standards for equipment they may use in the workforce.
A Taconic High School student learns tig welding in the metal fabrication lab in 2016. Part of the grant money will go toward updating the school’s current equipment, so students are learning on the most up-to-date technology.
“Safety features get improved over time, there are technology features that get added over time,” Gage said. “So as the equipment changes, our students need to learn those skills and competencies to operate the equipment safely and effectively.”
Equipment provided by the grant includes welding training stations, a hydraulic metal plate bending roll, which can curve plates up to a quarter-inch thick, and a floor drill press, among others. It will also provide personal protective equipment, including an auto-darkening welding helmet.
The new resources may also be used by adult learners in the near future, Gage said, as Taconic hopes to launch its career technical institute in February, pending approval for an implementation grant from the state. The institute will offer night classes for adults and would begin with a welding-training program that could lead to direct employment opportunities for its graduates.
The school’s horticulture department will also receive new equipment, such as a “skid steer,” and a mini-excavator. The grant will also fund a vertical garage for storing the new equipment, which Gage said is a major boon considering the lack of available space at the high school.
The grant funding will also cover installation costs for the new equipment, Gage said, which makes the award an even greater benefit to the city.
Gage said the school district was grateful to be awarded the grant, adding that the funds are “significant” for providing a classroom experience similar to real-life work in those fields.
“We know that equipment doesn’t last forever, and technology is changing at such an exponential rate that we’re just doing our best to keep up,” Gage said.
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira
