25 students win manufacturing scholarships

Twenty-five students seeking careers in manufacturing earned $5,000, $2,500 or $500 toward their college or trade school education from the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) Foundation and SolidWorks Corporation.

The FMA Foundation and SolidWorks awarded 21 traditional scholarships to college- or trade school-bound high school seniors and college students who seek careers in manufacturing. In addition, six students received a $500 “GO-Brennan” scholarship based on a YouTube promotion tied to FMA’s sponsorship of 16-year-old stock car driver and welder Brennan Palmiter.

This year the FMA and SolidWorks have awarded scholarships totaling $83,000. The winners are:

$5,000 FMA Foundation/SolidWorks Scholarships
o Justin Bush, Weyerhaeuser, Wis.
o Brian Dapore, Versailles, Ohio
o Brent Denton, Appleton, Wis.
o Benjamin Eilerman, Rossburg, Ohio
o Matthew Gonitzke, Rockford, Ill.v o Adam Koesters, Maria Stein, Ohio
o Kevin Langston, Piqua, Ohio
o Drew Mescher, Minster, Ohio
o Sharissa Murphy, White Rock, BC
o Ben Shappie, Versailles, Ohio
o Corey Vossler, St. Marys, Ohio

$2,500 FMA Foundation/SolidWorks Scholarships
o Stephen Blanchard, Katy, Texas
o Daniel Cosson, New York, N.Y.
o Alanna Cummings, Long Beach, Calif.
o Cody Grebe, Milford, Mich.
o Justin Johnson, Long Beach, Calif.
o Robert Johnson, Downey, Calif.
o Tomasz Kuna, Yonkers, N.Y.
o Joseph Logsdon, Corriganville, Md.
o Brian Lutomski, Granger, Ind.
o Ryan Shenk, Suwanee, Ga.

o $500 “GO-Brennan” Scholarships
o Alanna Cummings, Long Beach, Calif.
o Kevin Delyser, Marion, N.Y.
o Brian Freeman, Carrollton, Mo.
o Justin Johnson, Long Beach, Calif.
o Dave Larson, Ontario, N.Y.
o Gary Lawrence, Wolcott, N.Y.

“We applaud the students selected as 2008 FMA Foundation/Solidworks and “GO-Brennan” scholarship winners, and are pleased to assist them in fulfilling their academic goals,” Terrence Egan, director of the FMA Foundation said.

To be eligible for the traditional scholarships, applicants were required to be full-time students with a minimum 3.0 GPA (for a college scholarship) or a 2.0 GPA (for a trade/technical school scholarship) enrolled in an engineering or manufacturing-related course of study, or a trade or technical program that may lead to a career in manufacturing. Students were responsible for submitting academic records and an engineering or manufacturing-related program description with each application. Membership-based scholarships were available for individuals that are members of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA), Tube and Pipe Association, International (TPA) or the Outside Processors Council (OPC); the employee of a member company; or the child of a member or member company’s employee.

College scholarships for members were $5,000 per school year and college scholarships for non-members were $2,500 per school year. Trade school scholarships of up to $2,500 per school year required membership, and students could apply for membership at the time of application. In addition to the monetary grant, each scholarship winner received a copy of Solidworks’ Student Design Kit CAD software package. The Student Design Kit is an easy-to-learn, Windows-based 3D CAD application that gives students the ability to create “real-life” 3D designs they can easily manipulate.

For the “GO-Brennan” promotion, high school, trade school and college students seeking careers in manufacturing were required to create and post their own videos on YouTube explaining why they wanted to be in manufacturing, what career they sought and where they wanted to attend school. Applicants also were encouraged to include footage of themselves welding or building with metal.