Baker-Polito Administration Awards GLTS $60K Advanced Manufacturing Grant

Senior Advanced Manufacturing students Derolin Gonzalez, left, and Nilson Hernandez, right, show a milling machine to Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, center. (Courtesy Photo Greater Lawrence Tech)
Senior Advanced Manufacturing students Derolin Gonzalez, left, and Nilson Hernandez, right, show a milling machine to Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, center. (Courtesy Photo Greater Lawrence Tech)

ANDOVER — Superintendent John Lavoie is pleased to announce that Greater Lawrence Technical School has been awarded $60,000 by the state to support workforce development programming for adults studying advanced manufacturing.

Lt. Governor Karyn Polito visited Greater Lawrence Tech on Tuesday to announce $2.5 million in grants to four regional consortiums through the state’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Program to support workforce development in advanced manufacturing programs. The grants seek to support schools as they craft advanced manufacturing training programs and opportunities to ensure students are receiving the necessary workforce development to succeed in careers in advanced manufacturing. The funding also aims to address the needs of the manufacturing industry in the Commonwealth and its need for more trained workers.

“We cannot solve the workforce skills gap with only student graduates from high schools, we need to tap into the adult community that is looking to re-skill or up-skill to these new skills needed for this economy,” Lt. Governor Polito said. “And to open up schools and classrooms like this so that people can access the training so they can plug into jobs that are here, that are growing and also pay more.”

Several elected and appointed officials also attended and spoke at the event, including Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Workforce Development Mike Kennealy, Rep. Frank A. Moran, Rep. Christina Minicucci, and Rep. Jeffrey Roy. Brian Norris, director of the Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium, also spoke at the event.

“This funding will make a meaningful difference for our adult students looking to enter a field that is growing, and needs more skilled workers,” Superintendent Lavoie said. “We are incredibly thankful to the Baker-Polito administration for their support of our programming, as well as all of our local legislators who continue to advocate on behalf of our students.”

The funding will allow Greater Lawrence Tech to offer a one week boot camp to adult students in contextualized English for English Learners and a one week mathematics boot camp. Approximately 20 students will participate in the camps, which will begin in January.

Rep. Moran, a 1989 graduate of Greater Lawrence Tech, spoke to the benefits his education at Greater Lawrence Tech gave him as a young professional.

“It helped me,” Moran said. “By the time I graduated high school, by the time I was 19-years-old I already owned my own home. That’s what a co-op did. That’s why this is so good. This grant will help us educate not only young folks, but also adults.”

Following the grant announcement, legislators and school officials toured the school’s Advanced Manufacturing Department and spoke with senior students in the program.

Schools that were awarded funding in addition to Greater Lawrence Tech include Essex Tech, Whittier Tech and Shawsheen Valley Tech.