From The Director Spring 2024

CT State Community College Quinebaug Valley just concluded its first semester in both the Advanced Manufacturing certificate and the Mechatronics Automation certificate. The students who completed are looking forward to the needed break after 15 weeks of Monday through Friday classes. Some of these same students have already been placed in employment opportunities to fulfill the “earn while you learn” concept. Participating in a job brings full attention to the reason they came here to learn a skill to begin with. Graduates from both programs are expected to prove their ability to perform the skills required to be successful at their job. The support students get from the staff and instructors is “world class”, hence the reason for our level of success. QV accepts many students who aren’t quite sure of the road before them in the careers in manufacturing, but quickly realize and enjoy the reason they came. This hands-on approach is the fun part of learning. I often refer to it as having a hobby that you enjoy doing every day.

As we prepare to start the second semester, we are also pushing hard to recruit possibly interested students into some first semester classes to get a better understanding of the career pathway. This also lightens the load for the following fall semester. I strongly suggest taking the MFG 1405 Manufacturing Math,  MFG 1415 Safety in the Workplace and MFG 1479 Career Awareness. These classes are all after 3:30 and contacting Tara Kelly at 860-932-4243 or email her at tkelly@qvcc.edu. There are also some Mechatronics classes that start at 3:30 that can get you on a new career path as an automation technician. MFG 1342 Electronic Circuits & Devices, MFG 1344 Hydraulics & Pneumatics, MFG 1345 Electronic Variable Sped Drives and MFG 1362 CNC Maintenance & Repair.

A quick reminder is that our students get jobs right here locally to support our community businesses.  I’m asking you to give me and my staff a chance to make you one of those many success stories Quinebaug Valley’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center is known for. It’s not too early to start thinking about Fall 2024 classes, maybe contact me to shadow our night program to get a better feel of what you might consider diving into.

Thant’s it for now and will have another update after Spring Break !!

CT State Community College Quinebaug Valley

Advanced Manufacturing Director

Steve LaPointe

So here we are about to conclude another fantastic academic year in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center, graduating successful employed students. It’s always bittersweet because we have watched the students grow from the beginning of the program to the mature individuals they’ve become. QVCC was part of a CSCU Manufacturing Challenge event at Asnuntuck Community College on May 12th. This was an opportunity for the 5 competing schools to be handed a machining project to a team of 4 students to create 4 different parts to blueprint specifications. It was a huge event and the team from QV executed the projects to take 3 of the 4 awards: Assembly, Precision and Aesthetics. They scored 290 points out of 300. Congratulations to the team of Caitlin Boyce, Alexander Marzullo, Jacob Scotti and Joe Thompson (Class of ‘23).

This class will be graduating 16 students and we are really looking forward to getting our cohort enrollment numbers back to the 50 number. COVID took a toll on all of us but it’s time to return to some sense of normalcy. Fall 2023 classes are on the schedule and there is a limit, so first come first serve, don’t delay. The Mechatronics classes are filling quickly and we may be offering a day time class schedule to accommodate the overflow in this fast growing field. Many of our machining students are hooked on the hands-on style of learning here at QVCC and are enrolling in more classes. The more you learn, the more you earn!!

There are plenty of options for financial aid and various scholarships at QVCC and most likely your education will come at no cost. We offer incentives through the Gene Haas Foundation for the first 25 enrolled students, making the Dean’s list and completion of the certificate. The QVCC Advanced Manufacturing Endowment also has special accommodations for those in need. We also have the area high schools that have Youth Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative students who will be coming here for an assessment process that can award them up to $500 if they succeed and enroll.

You can come and learn more about our programs and the opportunities for a new career right here in the Quiet Corner at our Tour and Info Session on July 8, 2023, 10:00am.

So the team and I are waiting to take you by the hand and see you through the process to make you one of next year’s success stories,

Stephen LaPointe
Director
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center