PANAMA CITY — Rutherford High School students will soon have the tools to earn a manufacturing industry standard certification upon graduation.
Rutherford, and several other schools in the region, will launch a new manufacturing academy next year thanks to a push from the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council, a 60-member group with a goal to strengthen the competitiveness of the region’s manufacturing industry.
“Everything will be hands on,” said Cindy Anderson, executive director of the council. “Each school is also trying to adopt a manufacturer or two. The kids won’t just stay in the classroom.”
Bay County is home to 149 manufacturers that employ 3,511 area residents. The region as a whole supports more than 14,000 manufacturing jobs, and Anderson said the council is now working to combat antiquated perceptions of what it means to work as a manufacturer.
“Manufacturing isn’t what it used to be,” she said, referencing past views of blue collar, hard-labor jobs. “That’s a perception that we’re fighting.”
Using $1.5 million in funding dedicated by state lawmakers, the council plans to initiate manufacturing academies at schools in Bay, Walton, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia counties.
The academies will be stocked with Amatrol training equipment and offer four levels of automation and production courses at the high school level. The council is also developing academies on the middle school level.
“Through this grant, they’re actually providing funding for us to purchase equipment that we wouldn’t have been able to purchase otherwise,” said Ann Leonard, career and technical education director for Bay District Schools.
Although Rutherford currently has a drafting, engineering and manufacturing academy in place, Leonard said the program does not offer courses specific to manufacturing.
The new academy will ultimately prepare students to take an industry certification test, which provides the ability to enter the workforce or seek further skills training or further education upon graduation.
Passing the Certified Production Technician exam, set forth by the national Manufacturing Skills Standards Council, also equates to 15 earned college credit hours.
With manufacturing projected to grow faster in Northwest Florida than any other area in the state, Anderson said the council now is tasked with educating parents on the benefits of the industry.
“Our true missing piece right now is the parents,” Anderson said. “We can show them that technical schools are not like the old vocational schools.”