Hypertherm, Fujifilm Complete Innovative High School Program

Hypertherm, Inc. (Hanover, NH) and Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc. (Lebanon, NH) are celebrating the graduation of high school students from their semester long High-Tech Manufacturing and Engineering program. Fifteen students from Lebanon High School (Lebanon, NH) and Thetford Academy (Thetford, VT), recently took part in a ceremony at Hypertherm’s Heater Road facility. Attendees included Lebanon school superintendent Dr. Joanne Roberts, Thetford Academy’s head of the school William Bugg, representatives from both companies, as well as staff from both schools and parents of the graduating students.

This groundbreaking program is known as the STEM Internship: High Tech Manufacturing and Engineering is an Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) developed in partnership with area high schools. In development for nearly two years, the program brought students from each school and placed them into the businesses as part of their regular school day. It ran for the duration of the first semester of their school year and students earned credits toward their graduation requirements as well as earning college credit through the Running Start program.

Throughout the program, students were introduced to concepts such as human resources, resume writing and interviewing skills, product development, prototyping and engineering, production and manufacturing processes, and finance, sales, and marketing. The daily sessions provided students real-world, hands-on examples of business and manufacturing concepts in action at both of the manufacturing facilities. Students learned directly from professionals in each field and were given the opportunity to immediately apply concepts as they completed projects and tasks directly related to each subject.

Mark Pichette, the director of counseling at Thetford Academy, says the program has been impactful, commenting, “Students are carrying themselves with more confidence, it’s been an extraordinary experience.” It’s a comment echoed by Marc Chabot, the dean of academics at Thetford Academy: “The investment in time, leadership, and resources by Hypertherm and Fujifilm have created a program of unmatched quality for students.”

www.hypertherm.com, www.fujifilmusa.com