Nella Kondratyuk, a 16-year-old junior at Westfield Technical Academy, showed Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito how she was setting up her project on a computer-controlled machine in the school’s precision manufacturing shop.
She also told Polito of her plans for a future career in the much-in-demand manufacturing sector. She told Polito of her family living in Ukraine.
“We keep in contact,” Kondratyuk said. “But it’s hard to know they are safe. It’s just so good to have this opportunity to get this training here.”
Polito and Gov. Charlie Baker toured Westfield Technical Academy Tuesday to announce $24 million in Skills Capital Grants to 14 different high schools.
The grants include $1 million for Westfield. The money will be used to modernize and update infrastructure for advanced manufacturing and electrical instructional labs supporting 110 high school students, with new equipment such as Proto TRAK Lathes and Mills, Haas Mini Mills, computer-assisted design (CAD) workstations and fire alarm, burglar and access control trainers. The school will also launch a career technical initiative to expand opportunities for unemployed and underemployed adult workers.
Gary Nadeau, lead instructor of manufacturing technology at Westfield Technical, told Baker how past grants allowed the school to outfit older Bridgeport machines with the latest in computer technology. Students now learn faster and move on more quickly to more complex training. “This gets them ready,” he said, adding the program has 100% job placement success.
Jeffrey Amanti, product manager at family-owned Advance Manufacturing in Westfield, told Baker the programs at Westfield Technical Academy help him replenish and build his 250-person workforce making parts for submarines and spacecraft in addition to runners for the American Olympic bobsled team.
To qualify for the grants, schools need to work with local employers.
Baker and Polito also toured the school’s hands-on culinary classroom before hosting a news conference in the Tigers Pride restaurant. It was apple pie day as evidenced by the rich aroma.
A past grant funded the transformation of a locker room at the school into a prep room for baking classes.
Over the next five years, this round of grant awards are expected to impact approximately 10,000 students across 38 different programs, according to the governor’s team.
“This thing, I believe, has a ton of momentum,” Baker said. His administration began in 2015 to include skills development in economic development bills, an effort he believes should continue.
“It should be part of every economic development bill going forward,” he said. Baker and Polito will leave office at the end of the year having decided not to run for another term.
Westfield Schools Superintendent Stefan J. Czaporowski said the school has 560 students today. That’s up from 430 when he came there to be the principal in 2012. “We are at full capacity,” he said.
Polito praised all the vocational educators at the news conference for doing away with the old stigma about vocational schools and boosting enrollment.
“You put certificate on par with career on par with college,” she said.
Westfield Technical Academy also offers early college programs.