When a community celebrates the successes of its local school districts, everyone wins.

That was the consensus at the recent School 2 Business Summit in Thomasville. The daylong event brought together business leaders, school officials, educators and other community leaders to experience firsthand the innovations taking place in area schools. It also showcased collaboration between Thomas County Schools, Thomasville City Schools and Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC).

Hosted by the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce, this year’s event featured tours of the new Thomasville City Schools middle grades building, the Thomas County Schools CTAE classrooms and new labs at SRTC. Georgia AIM’s footprint could be found throughout the event, from outfitting SRTC labs with advanced manufacturing equipment to supporting new CNC machines and curricula for high school students this fall.

The larger goal of the School 2 Business Summit is to create clear pathways for students to secure good-paying jobs with local manufacturers.

“What we found is that students weren’t interested in manufacturing because they didn’t know about it,” said Beth Adams, CTAE director at Thomas County High School. “The goal now is to start with a basic understanding and move them along to the next step. What we’re hoping is it will trickle down and get more students interested, but we try to be responsive with the community and address needs.”

Making the Connection

Georgia AIM’s work in the Thomasville area is multifaceted, and the School 2 Business Summit highlighted that. Throughout the day, it was clear that programs and initiatives designed to raise awareness of the region’s manufacturing sector were having an impact.

For example, a new program launching this fall at three area high schools — Thomasville City, Thomas County and Bainbridge High School — will introduce students to engineering concepts and prototyping. The Smart Mechanics class, taught online by Georgia Tech faculty, will cover the basics of computer-aided design, CNC and 3D printing, and Python-based manufacturing data analytics.

During the summit, Thomas County High School computer science teacher Mark Thompson proudly showed visitors the new CNC machine and the classroom where 26 students will learn these advanced skills this fall.

“They’re going to use 3D systems to design Pinewood Derby cars out of aluminum and then we’ll race. … They’re making the parts, then looking for inefficiencies in the process,” Thompson said.

“In ‘Embedded Computing’ we start with simple circuits and to go sensors. It exposes them to a lot of things in the ‘internet of things.’”

Thompson added that he’s looking to connect with more manufacturers in the area to better understand their needs.

Other attendees toured two new labs at SRTC serving students in the Manufacturing Engineering Technology and Precision Machining and Manufacturing programs. Renovations and much of the equipment were funded by Georgia AIM, along with curriculum development. Georgia Tech also provided additional training to SRTC instructors before the programs launched.

K-12 and Beyond

Georgia AIM’s reach extends beyond high schools and postsecondary training programs.

For two years, the innovative K-12 InVenture Prize from Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) has hosted South Georgia Innovation Day. The event challenges students to invent solutions to everyday problems while learning about manufacturing, coding, AI and other emerging technologies. Expansion of the K-12 InVenture Prize was made possible by Georgia AIM funding.

Georgia AIM has also helped CEISMC and SRTC join forces to expand an innovative teacher program that began in metro Atlanta. The GIFT program — Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers — places high school students and educators in summer manufacturing internships. Students learn from experienced coworkers in paid internships, while teachers shadow employees and receive a stipend as they learn manufacturing techniques. They then bring these lessons back to their classrooms, introducing manufacturing concepts to students of all ages.

After touring in the morning, School 2 Business Summit attendees reconvened for an afternoon panel discussion featuring GIFT participants.

“It opened my eyes to former jobs I had before I became an educator,” said Mike Clapper, CTAE teacher at Thomas County High School, who joined fellow teacher Bhavika Singletary and professionals from local manufacturers Check-Mate Industries and Hurst Boiler to share their experiences. “One of my thoughts was, ‘How am I portraying other jobs to our students?’ Everything we buy was made somewhere, and for me, it brought me back to my childhood memories of building with LEGOs. I wanted to bring that back to the classroom.”

Educators said they will integrate their summer experiences into their teaching in different ways.

Singletary said her fourth-graders study simple machines, and now she feels more prepared to teach those lessons.

“We also talk about the water cycle, and my experience with Hurst Boilers will allow me to talk about how steam can power a boiler,” she said. “And representatives from local companies will be helping with the K-12 InVenture Prize” as students develop and create their inventions.