ATHOL — Athol High School senior Kirsten Newell plans to attend Worcester State University, where she will likely major in math. Classmate Daniel Arpide is going to Wentworth Institute of Technology to study computer engineering.
Both fields are growing rapidly in the American economy and offer healthy job growth. And Newell and Arpide got a push in those directions from their experience in the Starrett science lab, which started in January as a partnership between their school and The L.S. Starrett Co. to train and certify seniors in using precision tools.
“I like it a lot. I think it’s pretty engaging,” Newell said as her high school career and the lab’s first semester draw to a close. “It’s different, because we’ve never had anything like this before.”
Starrett is partnered with the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) and outgoing school district Superintendent Steven Meyer has previously said the lab was designed to offer students a chance to earn industry-recognized credentials. The precision-measuring program has been so successful Assistant Principal David King said Starrett has agreed to welcome five students into its workforce during the 2018 spring semester. Students, King said, will enter a competitive process for five minimum-wage jobs that last four months at 35 to 40 hours per week.
King said the Work Based Learning Program will give students “a broad overview of what it is to work in this day and age.”
“We’re trying to give them some career readiness skills that we can’t provide them with at a comprehensive high school like ours,” he said. “Every time I’m in there, those students are highly engaged. … Education’s happening, but it’s happening in a very rewarding atmosphere.”
The science lab, complete with work tables decaled with the Starrett name, is at one of the ends of the school, behind a door marked, “SPRINKLER CONTROL VALVES.” King, a 1994 graduate of the school, said it once housed an educational automotive shop. It’s in this room that Arpide said he used 3D rendering software called Fusion 360 to design replicas of world-famous buildings.
“I ended up making the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, stuff like that,” he said.
King said the new program will be selective and students must exhibit good grades, stellar conduct and consistent attendance to be considered.
Mary Ann Miller and Donna LaJoie, who head Athol High School’s internship program, said students respond well to a class that teaches practical, real-life skills.
“Some of these kids, they’re just not really interested in that traditional academic setting,” LaJoie said. “They want to learn something that’s more hands-on that kind of competes with the tech schools that are out there. It’s so competitive now to keep students.”
Athol, known as “Tool Town,” has a storied manufacturing heritage. Maine native Laroy S. Starrett formed The L.S. Starrett Co. in 1880, crafting high-quality measuring instruments. The company now employs an estimated 600 in Athol – where 90 percent of its tools are manufactured – and 2,000 worldwide.
Miller said Starrett has a vested interest and conditioning some young men and women into workers with precision skills. She said this new program is the next tier of the science lab’s mission. She described internships and other workplace learning experiences as petri dishes in which something depends before being released to have its effect on the world.
Miller and LaJoie said said they hope to recruit other businesses if this program is successful.
The science lab emerged from conversations between a product manager at Starrett and Athol High School teacher Carl Seppala, who over the summer became certified to teach the lab course. Miller said Seppala is very passionate about the course and that passion directly correlates to its success.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 258. On Twitter: @DomenicPoli