Greenfield schools plan advanced manufacturing program for students

Greenfield High School

Greenfield High School STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 12-18-2024 10:37 AM

Modified: 12-19-2024 8:28 AM


GREENFIELD — In its first year applying for the state’s Innovation Career Pathways grant, the School Department received $14,835 in funding to plan an advanced manufacturing training program for the district.

Greenfield was one of 11 first-time grant recipients under the Executive Office of Education’s “Reimagining High School” initiative, which aims to help public schools partner with employers to design hands-on coursework programs in high-demand industries.

“We wanted to pursue this [grant program] to provide our students with alternative pathways for future careers,” Superintendent Karin Patenaude said. “If you’re not on the four-year college track and want to pursue these pathways, you’d be able to graduate into an industry that’s hiring and is local and really offering a sustainable living wage. That was also part of our rationale in going after this grant.”

School districts can apply for funding to create programs in fields such as health care, technology, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and environmental sustainability. Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Stephen Sullivan said he worked with MassHire’s Matt Allen to apply for an advanced manufacturing grant.

“We ended up deciding on advanced manufacturing. There are already some manufacturing courses that students are offered here, that students can take. This was an opportunity a bit to formalize a pathway,” Sullivan said. “When I first became a principal 10 or 12 years ago, it was career or college — which pathway are you going on? Now I think we’re taking a broader look and saying, ‘We can equip you for both with opportunities.’”

District leaders will apply for an additional round of grant funds through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in the spring. If approved, this will allow Greenfield schools to pursue an implementation grant to fund the course itself.

If DESE approves the project’s next steps, Sullivan said the district will be able to launch its advanced manufacturing program for incoming ninth grade students at Greenfield High School.

“We’re really excited for our students, because if this gets off the ground and we are awarded this, it is going to provide them with some real opportunities in the future,” Patenaude said. “We look forward to embracing that and creating these pathways for them.”

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The planned program, if approved, will consist of two advanced courses, along with a dual-enrollment course at Greenfield Community College or another university or college, concluding with a 100-hour capstone project or internship overseen by an industry partner.

“It’s not like a lifelong commitment, but if students find passion in this and are interested in it, it allows us to provide some opportunities and to connect them with potential industry partners,” Sullivan said. “Oftentimes in these pathways, students are doing an internship and those businesses and companies want to hire them because they’ve worked with them for 100 hours, they’ve done some training. … Oftentimes it can lead to either after-school or part-time work in the summers, or if a student is graduating, it could lead to full-time work.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.