by Elisabeth Schyberg
The Petaluma High School Manufacturing Technology department was awarded a national accreditation for their program by the National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS) on February 12, 2010.
This distinction comes as a particular honor to PHS because it is the sole school, including community colleges and universities, in the entire state of California that has the NIMS accreditation. Industrial Technology department chair and Manufacturing Technology teacher Dan Sunia says of the acknowledgement, “It is rare; not just for our region but in California and the US. We have been recognized as a model program and singled out.” The award comes not only from NIMS but from the national Department of Labor and the state of California’s Department of Education.
Formed only fifteen years ago, NIMS is an east coast organization from Washington, D.C., and as Mr. Sunia comments, it has been “trickling towards California slowly.” The official mission statement found on the NIMS website is “To strengthen American manufacturing by building a globally competitive metalworking workforce.”
Currently PHS has been able to issue more than 70 individual credentials to both students and Petaluma Adult School apprentices. These credentials can be earned by students making a specific mechanic part, which then must be sent to two local machine shops for professional quality assurance certifications; the students must then take a rigorous online examination to earn their credentials.
For the entire Manufacturing Technology program at PHS to achieve the status of accredited, the course had to be strictly evaluated by trained NIMS employees in such areas as safety and equipment inspection, and everyone from students to teachers to local employers had to be extensively interviewed in order to determine if the program met the high standards necessary for NIMS accreditation. The accreditation is valid for five years, after which application can be made for a renewal.
A NIMS accreditation allows students interested in following a career in metalworking or engineering to have a significant advantage when looking for an apprenticeship, because it guarantees that these students have gained invaluable experience and strong skills in their field. According to Mr. Sunia, it takes six years to make a proficient machinist, including four years for an apprenticeship, and he says, “Employers are looking for this [experience].”
The metal shop teacher also comments that in engineering “it’s really good to know how to actually make something” and students have to “learn to apply math and science, because you can’t work here without those.” In this way, with the recent accreditation, PHS has “a unique, comprehensive program” that enables students to go into the fields of manufacturing or engineering with a distinct advantage.
PHS currently has the only completely modern and hi-tech educational Manufacturing Technology program in Northern California, conferring further distinction on its instructors and participants. According the Mr. Sunia, PHS’s program is “the only modern hi-tech educational facility in Northern California” and the metal shop possesses two Computer Numerical Control design and software machines, qualifying this school as a Haas Technical Education Center.