CCISD Awarded $364,000 CTE Grant For New Welding & Manufacturing Class

The Copper Country ISD is excited to announce that they have received a $364,000 competitive Career and Technical Education (CTE) grant from the Michigan Department of Education. The money is to be used to purchase equipment for the new Welding & Manufacturing class that will be offered to all Copper Country schools next school year.

Superintendent George Stockero stated that he, along with the CCISD Board, is very excited about getting the grant. With the grant dollars, the CCISD will be able to have a state of the art welding and manufacturing lab. There were 62 applications for the CTE grant money and only 14 applications were awarded grants. Stockero felt the CCISD had a good application because he had great support from the community. Stockero said the CCISD received letters of support from 18 local businesses, KEDA, WUPPDR, MichiganWorks!, the Portage Health Foundation and Finlandia University. It is the willingness of our local businesses to help shape this program that is so unique and strong. All of the equipment that will be purchased came from suggestions from our local businesses.
Here is a list of the equipment the grant is allowing us to purchase:

• Disk Sander
• Platen Fabricating Tables
• Iron Worker with Tooling
• Horizontal Band Saw
• Lathe with Tooling
• Vertical Mill with Tooling
• CNC Plasma Table, including Plasma Cutter & software
• Multi-purpose Welders
• Aluminum Welders
• Vertical Band Saw
• Welding Booths
• Downdraft Grinding Table
• Drill Press

Three years ago, Stockero and the CCISD Board started meeting with the public to discuss CTE, which led to the successful CTE millage this past summer. Stockero wanted the community to know that the CCISD is delivering on their promise to provide our local students with more opportunities in the area of Career and Technical Education. With this grant, our students will get even more opportunities and faster than expected.