WVC Machine Program Receives $10,000 from Gene Haas Grant

The Wenatchee Valley College
machining program received a $10,000 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation. This
is the second time the program has received this grant.

In the past two years, the
grant has purchased over $15,000 worth of personal tools for 10 students and has
provided $4,500 for Skills USA students to attend state and national
conferences. 

Students require around a dozen unique tools each year of
the program. Over two years, the cost of necessary tools is around $3,000 out
of pocket. Thanks to the Gene Haas grant, both first year and second year students
received all the tools required for their machining classes. The tools are
given directly to students to be used in classes and then taken with them once
they leave WVC. WVC administrators and the WVC Foundation presented tools to
this year’s machining students in a ceremony on Jan. 28.

WVC machining faculty Micky Jennings said that being gifted
high-quality tools removes a financial barrier for students and sets them up
for success after college.

“If a student is tasked with buying their own tools,
inferior tools are often purchased because of the limited funds students often
have during school and directly after graduation,” he said. “Inferior tools
lead to measurement inaccuracies, scrapped parts and loss of time. Instead, the
tools they’ve been gifted should last an entire career if handled
appropriately. This gift from the Gene Haas Foundation gives the students a
head start toward being leaders in modern manufacturing.”

The machining program has sent students to national Skills USA competitions in the past two years, and WVC machining faculty member Micky Jennings said he has high hopes that he will have more students attend this year. He said the Gene Haas Foundation helped fund travel and professional attire for students to attend the competitions. The Gene Haas Foundation was founded by Gene Haas in 1999 with the goal of building skills in the machining industry by providing scholarships for CNC machine technology students and NIMS credentials. Learn more at ghaasfoundation.org.

Press release provided by Wenatchee Valley College