Moraine Park Technical College held its spring 2023 Manufacturing Skills Academy completion ceremony on Thursday, May 25. A total of four students finished the Welding program and six finished the CNC program.
This program was designed to combat the skilled worker shortage by offering a variety of boot camp sessions. The boot camp sessions are free to participants, teach skills that are unique to a particular pathway, and connect students with area employers. The program also combines a 144-hour paid internship with coursework, including Occupational Math, Print Reading, Team Building, Problem Solving, and program-specific courses
The students who completed the Welding boot camp are Kieron Edwards of Fond du Lac, Brandon Kasuboski of Ripon, Chris Palmer of Laconia and Silas Voigt of Princeton.
The students who completed the CNC boot camp are Hilarion Castro of Fond du Lac, Jesse Godina of Fond du Lac, Mikaela Jaschob of Fond du Lac, Leopold Kuharske of Hartford, Andrew Pierce of Fond du Lac and Kyle Miller of Fond du Lac.
“The ‘Aha’ moment for any student is my favorite moment of teaching,” Kelly Komoroski, Moraine Park Welding instructor, said. “Throughout our time together I’ve watched you grow, fail, get upset, and succeed. Now that you’ve completed the bootcamp, keep the momentum going. Don’t stop now–you can achieve anything you put your mind to.”
Participating internship sites for this session were Sam’s Well Drilling, Manowske Welding, FZE Manufacturing, GKN, Wabash, BCI Burke and Apache Stainless.
This year’s student graduation speakers were Jesse Godina and Kieron Edwards. Edwards decided to enroll in the Welding Bootcamp after struggling to find a job. He knew the pay was good, so he attended Moraine Park’s open house, spoke with Welding instructors, and the rest was history.
“I am proud to be here today,” Edwards said. “I did not think I would meet so many amazing people when I started the bootcamp, but I am lucky to now call you all friends.”
Godina completed the Welding Bootcamp and made the decision to enroll in the CNC Bootcamp after an opportunity opened up at work, and he jumped at the chance to learn more.
“I almost dropped out of the bootcamp at one point, but I’m so glad I stuck it out and was able to complete them both,” Godina said. “Now I am one of three people at my place of work to run a 5-axis robot, and I am able to use my knowledge from both bootcamps.”
Moraine Park has had over 400 participants in the Welding and CNC boot camp programs since its induction in 2012. The bootcamps are free to participating students, thanks to financial support from community resource partners and the Workforce and Training (WAT) grants.
