SolidWorks Corp. partnered with the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Foundation to support summer manufacturing “camps” and student scholarships that promote careers in manufacturing.

More than 1 million students in more than 15,000 schools worldwide graduate with SolidWorks training, officials said.

The company develops and markets software, and is a supplier of 3-D CAD programs.

“This national sponsorship with SolidWorks will have a major impact on every child who attends one of our manufacturing camps or receives a student scholarship and we are thrilled to have their support,” said Terrence Egan, director of the FMA Foundation.

SolidWorks donated limited licenses of its Student Design Kit CAD software to 750 students and teachers involved in 26 summer manufacturing camps that took place over the summer.

The foundation and the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs Foundation partner annually to support not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions across the country that offer overnight or day camp experiences that introduce young people ages 12 to 16 to careers in manufacturing and engineering.

The Student Design Kit is a Windows-based 3-D CAD application that gives students the ability to create “real-life” 3-D designs that can be easily manipulated. The kit includes an interactive tutorial, as well as online help menus and references for learning how to use SolidWorks software including the computer-aided design of sheet metal products and weldments.

“The software donation allows students to work on CAD design while at camp and use the software they’ve been taught in camp at home for the rest of their summer vacation,” said Egan. “It’s imperative that we provide these kids with all the tools they need to have a quality camp and a memorable experience.”

SolidWorks also provided the full licensed version of its software program to every foundation student scholarship winner and contributed money to help underwrite a portion of up to 32 student scholarships. The scholarships are awarded annually to college- or trade school-bound high school seniors who seek careers in manufacturing. The FMA Foundation is expected to award more than a dozen scholarships this year.

“With the help of SolidWorks we can continue to provide scholarships to students and strengthen the future workforce in the manufacturing industry,” said Egan.

SolidWorks is set to produce a training video for posting to the FMA Foundation Web site to introduce camp and scholarship students to the Student Design Kit and highlight potential projects that can be designed and built by camp participants.

“We’re delighted to partner with the FMAF to encourage our youth to consider manufacturing as a career option,” said Marie Planchard, director of worldwide education markets at SolidWorks. “We look forward to visiting the camps to talk to the students and see their experiences firsthand and also to bringing news of these camps and scholarships to the many schools we work with across the country.”