Greensburg Jr. High School becomes first middle school to receive IN-MaC grant

GREENSBURG – Greensburg Junior High School is the first middle school in Indiana to house an Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competiveness Center (IN-MaC) Design and Innovation Studio, which was developed in partnership with STEM Education Works and Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute. This STEM learning studio will also work closely with the one at the Honda Manufacturing of Indiana plant.

IN-MaC provided the school with a $12,000 grant to develop the studio’s resources and boost manufacturing education and technology skills through exposure to robotics, coding, and 3D printing. All of the lab’s equipment, such as Dobots, 3D printers, and micro:bits, as well as curriculum were ordered from STEM Education Works.

The studio is designed to give students hands-on experience with next generation manufacturing technologies in a collaborative environment with educators and industry leaders.

The labs also introduce students to employability skills and career pathways that will enable them to become manufacturing leaders of the future, which could work to solve the shortage of qualified manufacturing workers that is currently affecting the state.

“Manufacturing is a driving workforce in Indiana,” said Lisa Deck, senior program manager for IN-MaC Education and Workforce, in a Greensburg Daily News article.

IN-MaC and partners STEM Education Works and Purdue have directly influenced around 20,000 students with their existing STEM learning studios around the state, and this number is expected to grow, enabling more students to discover opportunities in manufacturing.