Traverse Bay Intermediate School District (TBAISD) is partnering with Michigan Technological University to offer new opportunities for students at the TBAISD Career-Tech Center (CTC). The partnership takes the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and will specifically impact the CTC’s Manufacturing Technology Academy.

Through the MOU, Michigan Tech will offer curriculum assistance to the Manufacturing Tech Academy, in the form of lectures, seminars, and workshops. Students in the program will also have better access to career exploration and apprenticeship opportunities, as well as be eligible for a new scholarship program. Students who complete the two-year Manufacturing Tech program at the CTC and enroll at Michigan Tech will receive $1,000 toward their first year of tuition.

Pat Lamb, principal of the CTC and assistant superintendent of career and technical education and community outreach for TBAISD, believes the MOU “gives positive recognition to the value career and technical education provides to high school students.” “We are honored that Michigan Tech looks highly upon the quality of students they see coming from our Manufacturing Technology Academy,” Lamb adds.

The Manufacturing Tech program, first established at the CTC in 1996, provides students with a broad base of experience in advanced science and mathematics, economics, technical writing, and public speaking. Core focuses of the curriculum include design, engineering, manufacturing processes, robotics, automation, electrical systems, project management, lean manufacturing principles, and more. Students of the two-year program typically go on to further schooling and careers in fields such as alternative energy, biochemistry, environmental science, and all six branches of engineering.

The partnership is not Michigan Tech’s first connection with Traverse City. Last March, the university signed a three-year MOU with the Grand Traverse area, outlining five key areas of mutual interest: K-12/pre-college engagement, higher education, economic development, community development, and industry. The MOU eyed partnerships between Michigan Tech and Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), NMC’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy and Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, 20Fathoms, and other local organizations, aimed at everything from educational opportunities to research to business development.

In August, as part of the MOU, NMC signed seven new articulation agreements with Michigan Tech, intended “to expedite degree completion for engineering students transferring to Michigan Tech from NMC.”