Students at Suncoast Technical College Earn NIMS Credentials

Industry certifications serve as a validation of an individual’s skills set and is a valuable component of one’s professional portfolio. This

Spring students at Suncoast Technical College in Sarasota got a tremendous boost to their educational and professional credentials as they earned their National Institute of Metalworking Skills, or the NIMS credential. NIMS certifies individual skills against the national standards. The NIMS credentialing program requires that the candidate meet both performance and theory requirements, both of which are industry designed and industry-piloted. (Source: NIMS)

The class of 2015 at STC earned 88 NIMS credentials, most of which was in CNC machining. “Our goal is to have every graduate complete six NIMS industry credentials” said Ed Doherty, precision machining and CNC instructor at STC. Doherty hopes to be able to keep up the same great record next year as he stated the certification “will help an apprentice to achieve better jobs and better pay in the manufacturing industry.”

This year STC also received a one year grant for free testing from the Gene Haas Foundation. The grant has helped students earn industry

certification that is considered valuable in the precision machining and metalworking industry, at no cost to the students. STC also recently received the National NIMS accreditation and will fully utilize the power of testing and credentialing to improve students’ apprentice skills. The school also had 19 students, who graduated from the machining program and the FAST Track CNC program at night (for experienced machinists).

Looking ahead, STC plans to include MasterCam Cad-Cam evening training along with an introduction to Solid-works for industry.  “Our goal would be to achieve Associate level credentials for MasterCam” said Doherty. Since the inception of the program two years ago, STC has had 100% employment of students, with local job opening and offerings exceeding the number of graduates from the program.

Classes for 2015-2016 semester started on August 24. For more information about enrolling into the program, or for scholarship opportunities visit http://suncoast.edu, or contact Ed Doherty at edward.doherty@sarasotacountyschools.net, or 941.924.1365. In the upcoming month(s) we will bring you additional stories from Nature Coast High School and North Florida Community College that also boast of high student success in earning the MSSC CPT certification. Do stay tuned for those stories in the upcoming editions of the FLATE Focus.