Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. recently awarded $15,000 to the Housatonic Community College Foundation for the school’s advanced manufacturing program.
The grant will go toward scholarships and programming, according to a press release from the Bridgeport college. The advanced manufacturing program caters to students interested in machine technology and allows them to develop manufacturing skills in mathematics, blueprint reading and quality control, among other areas.
Ken Lisk, vice president of the foundation and member of the program’s advisory board, said job placement has been successful for the college’s manufacturing students.
“We are doing very well in placing our students in jobs as soon as they complete their course of study,” Lisk said. “We have currently placed 76 percent of the students who have completed the course of study over the last two years in manufacturing jobs.”
He said starting salaries for these positions range from $32,000 to $45,000.
Sikorsky has been actively involved in the program, which is going into its third year. Shane Eddy, senior vice president of operations at Sikorsky, said the company is noticing the importance of bringing manufacturing education into the region given its location and history.
Paul Timpanelli, president of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, in a statement said “getting manufacturing back on track has been front and center” in the conversation about economic regional development in the past six months.
