GRC NEWS RELEASE 00-016




00-16



For Release: March 16, 2000



Pamelia Caswell
Media Relations Office
(216) 433-5795
p.caswell@grc.nasa.gov


<h3>Year 2 for NASA Glenn Preapprentice Training Program</h3> 

Some fifteen qualified applicants will learn machining skills from 
NASA Glenn Research Center's master machinist. Glenn's successful 
preapprentice program is set to begin its second 32-week training 
course that helps develop skills needed by individuals seeking 
careers and local industry seeking skilled workers.



Glenn's partner for the program, the West Side Industrial Retention 
and Expansion Network, or WIRE-Net, is now taking applications for 
the training. Orientation will be on May 3, and classes will begin on 
May 8 and end on December 15. Training will be from 7 a.m. to 3:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, for the duration of the program.



Approximately one-third of the training will be classroom sessions on 
mathematics, shop theory, blueprint reading and life skills. The rest 
will be on the shop floor as hands-on training to acquire the skills 
in bench work, lathe and milling operations, surface grinding and 
drill press.



For the students, who must be from economically disadvantaged groups, 
there is no cost for this training. During the last 20 weeks of the 
program, the students will receive a stipend of $6 per hour. All 
applicants will be screened and must meet requirements for working on 
a secure federal facility.



"The preapprentice machining program will provide the training to help 
students qualify for the NIMS [National Institute for Metalworking 
Skills, Inc.], level I skill standard," said Peter Murray, deputy 
chief of the Manufacturing and Engineering Division at Glenn. To 
graduate, students must earn NIMS credentials in three of the seven 
subject areas for level I: (1) safety, (2) job layout and planning, 
and (3) bench work. However, students may earn all seven NIMS level I 
credentials during the program.



Graduates of this program will have completed the first steps to 
becoming a machine operator, a precision machinist, or a tool and die 
maker. Through the job placement efforts of this program, graduates 
may begin careers as employees in the machine trades with local 
industry. Some graduates may be selected to begin a four-year 
apprenticeship in the machine trades, while others may begin their 
careers without continuing their formal training.



For more information on this program, interested persons should 
contact Dave Cerutti of WIRE-Net at (216)631-7330, extension 102. The 
contact at NASA Glenn is Rick Reames at (216)433-2993.




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