ARLINGTON – As student Alisandra Penrose leaned over the milling machine, adjusting the vise and cutter to specifications, she made the first cuts on a shiny block of metal the size of a stick of butter.
It’s the kind of precision machining process used to create component parts for the aerospace industry, and she loves it.
“I want to work with my hands and having something tangible to show at the end of the day is important to me,” Penrose said.
She is a Precision Machining student in the Advanced Manufacturing Training & Education Center (AMTEC) at Everett Community College, with her eye on an engineering degree and eventual career in the local aerospace industry.
Penrose is just the sort of determined student that AMTEC EvCC officials and Arlington community leaders had in mind when they opened the AMTEC North campus in September at Weston High School near Arlington Municipal Airport.
More than 350 Arlington students attended an open house Oct. 13 at AMTEC North for a look at the new program designed to prepare students for jobs in the aerospace and manufacturing industries – jobs that are short on skilled labor to meet customer demand.
Students toured the building, watched machinery demonstrations, flew drones and raced radio-controlled cars for fun, and learned more about manufacturing training, professional development programs and basic skills classes offered there.
Students also visited booths hosted by corporate vendors, including Employers Senior Aerospace Absolute Manufacturing, AMT Senior Aerospace and Universal Aerospace, as well as EvCC’s partners Arlington School District, city of Arlington and the Goodwill Youth Aerospace Program in Marysville.
Derick Baisa, CEO of Absolute Manufacturing in Arlington, was thrilled with the turnout. The open house gave aerospace companies a chance to meet with students who might one day see manufacturing as a viable career.
Baisa has been working with Arlington Mayor Barb Tolbert, EvCC and the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County to establish AMTEC North as a hub for connecting students with the curriculum, training and entry-level skill sets that Arlington-area aerospace manufacturers need.
The market for passenger airline travel is soaring, with Airbus’ A320 Neo, and Boeing’s 737MAX and 777 narrow body generation aircraft driving sales, he said. That means high-demand, good-paying jobs are available for students in the Arlington area.
“Our message to K-12 students is that jobs will be here for them in this industry,” Baisa said, whether they’re college bound or better suited for the vocational-technical runway. “The AMTEC center is the training ground for our future employee base. We want to have the training to sustain that.”
The AMTEC-North class curriculum includes Machining and Introduction to Manufacturing, with five additional training programs offered at EvCC, including precision machining, welding, fabrication, composite materials, engineering and mechatronics, which combines precision engineering, electronic control and mechanical systems.
Tolbert said the city is excited to see the training opportunities that AMTEC North offers closer to home.”A vibrant city creates ways for their young people to be invested in the city’s future, and AMTEC North is just one strategy to make that happen,” she said.
Arlington and Marysville are working together to secure a Manufacturing Industrial Center regional designation. That plan would encourage north county development at Arlington’s airport industrial park as well as in the Smokey Point Master Plan area being developed by Marysville. The MIC has the potential to become the county’s second-largest manufacturing and industrial center, after Paine Field in Everett, officials said.
Sheila Dunn, associate dean of AMTEC at EvCC, said the early course offerings at Weston are a start. Weston is also providing classroom space for a satellite Corporate & Continuing Education Center and Transitional Studies division courses.
“We have to grow here,” Dunn said.
