Richmond Heights Local Schools is now offering a new opportunity for students looking for a career path in the manufacturing field after graduation.
This pathway enables students to build foundational manufacturing skills through a mixture of video, text, 3D animation, and interactive activities while fulfilling graduation requirements.
There are four certification areas used to assess knowledge including: Safety, Quality Practices & Measurement, Manufacturing Processes & Production, and Maintenance Awareness. In order to receive a Certified Production Technician (CPT) certification, students must pass all 4 individual areas. The CPT certification is a nationally-recognized credential.
“This program is what you need to become an entry-level production technician,” said teacher Joshua Patty, Richmond Heights Local Schools. In order to teach the class, Patty took an instruction course that included troubleshooting a Skills Boss machine to test his ability to problem solve.
To incorporate work-based learning, hands-on activities, and field trips, Patty is reaching out to local manufacturing companies to establish partnerships. “Through cultivating partnerships within our community, the district will be able to sustain and grow this valuable program,” said Principal and Assistant Superintendent Marnisha Brown.
The intended impact of this program is to give students the training necessary to get a foot in the door of the manufacturing industry and to show these types of programs will benefit companies.
“With more exposure, and as we build more partnerships, companies are going to see the benefits of fewer training costs of their future employees since we will already have a lot of that accomplished with our graduates,” said Patty.
Currently, there are three seniors enrolled in the courses. Beginning next year, the course will be offered to both seniors and juniors to allow time for additional certifications including CPT + (Skills Boss Machine).
Richmond Heights offers this program through a grant awarded through the Ohio Department of Education.
“We saw the need with the new graduation requirements to ensure that students had different career pathways and not just a focus on college,” said Brown.
This pathway is one of several elective courses that students are able to explore through Richmond Heights Local Schools.