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.”
SolidWorks donates software, scholarships to FMA students
September 1, 2008
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