NEWS
3
Exit light, enter night, take my grant
METALLICA PROVIDES A $100,000 GRANT FOR CCC’S METAL PROGRAMS
Students and staff of CCC’s Automotive Service Technology program work on a car together on March 4 in the CCC auto body repair shop.
PHOTO AND STORY BY MIKE STRICKLAND
STAFF WRITER
T h an ks to a $100,000 grant fro m
M etallica, students in the Clackam as
Community College metal departments
w ill get some heavy help when they
venture out into the job force.
The band an n ou n ced th e gran t
shortly after their Portland show this
past December. It’ s part of a $1 million
fund from their “ All Within My Hands”
foundation, which identifies colleges
across the country and gives m oney
to the m etals program s. C C C is one
o f only 10 colleges chosen to receive
th is fu n din g. The grant m oney w ill
be allocated toward students who are
graduating and need tools and other
equipm ent-to pursue their careers in
welding, manufacturing and auto tech
and repair.
Tom Brown, who administers grants at
CCC, said they are identifying students
who could benefit from the grant money.
“ W e’ve got one manufacturing student
identified so far — six or eight welders
who I’m working on their paperwork
and tool list,” Brown said.
Brown also said each department is
setting its own procedures for students
to apply for the money. “ They want to
have completed at least eight credits
o f w elding so at that point they can
tell they’re a serious student they’re
going to follow through, they’re not just
walking in the door and trying it out.
So once they’ve completed those eight
credits they can apply and that’s simply
just coming and seeing me. ”
Automotive Technology department
Clackamas Print ----------------------------------------- ,---------------
chair Dave Bradley said their cut of the
loot w ill go toward students buying
tools.
“ The individual awards for automotive
are considerably h ig h er th an the
awards for the other programs because
the am ount o f tools required h ere,”
Bradley said. “ O ther disciplines go
into a business-that has the equipment
that they operate, and here a completed
graduate w ill go into a shop taking
their own tools to do the work so the
requirements are considerably higher.
Our automotive students are going to
benefit to the tune of $2,900 each worth
of tools and equipm ent to take with
them into the workplace.”
“ We’ve tried to establish a benchmark
level for our Students as far as qualifying
th e cla ck a m a sp rin t.co m
for th is gran t m on ey and t h a t’ s
som ething that we’re still discussing
— how far do we want to go and how
strict do we want to make it,” Bradley
said. “ Do we want to make it for second-
year students or right after the first year
when they’ve qualified career pathways
certificate and if that qualifies them
then carry on from there.” „
Bradley said they’re looking to award
12 students, two each from auto service
and auto collision repair, over the course
of the next three terms. g
Instructor Jay Leuck explained that
this particular grant program is still in
its infancy, and the auto department
has yet to identify students or set up
an application process, as they are still
hammering out the details.
-------------------- ------------------------ -------------- March 13, 2019