CHILDERSBURG, Ala. – On Friday at Central Alabama Community College in Childersburg, Nemak, alongside investment partner Rural Development Partners (RDP), announced a $180,000 scholarship investment in the community.
The innovative light-weighting company revealed its plan to launch a scholarship program targeted at graduating seniors from low income households whom plan to attend Central Alabama Community College to complete technical associate degrees and certificate programs and prepare them to enter with workforce with an enhanced skill set.
According to a statement from Nemak, it worked closely with the principals and career tech advisors from both Sylacauga High School and BB Comer High School as well as the Dr. Susan Burrow, President of Central Alabama Community College, and her team. “This scholarship will help encourage and faciliate those students who started in dual enrollment to come to CACC, and finish their degree program and go to work for Nemak.” said CACC President Susan Burrow. ‘This is a wonderful contribution Nemak is making in the community.”
An initial proposal for helping local students, was to supplement the existing dual enrollment program which is currently limit to students with a minimum 2.5 grade point average. The current program, funded by state grant money does not include students with a grade point average of 2.5. The donation would have funded these students so that they too could participate in the dual enrollment program with an advisor recommendation. The program would have included all five high schools in the south Talladega County area to include Sylacauga, BB Comer, Childersburg, Fayetteville and Winterboro high schools. However, the plans quickly change two weeks ago when Dr. Burrow learned that the State will now begin to fund these students in January 2018.
Nemak worked quickly to shift its objective and will now award multiple scholarships. These scholarships are intended to cover the remaining tuition costs needed for dual enrollment students in low income households to complete associate degree or certificate programs. This opportunity will provide these individuals with the education to help them secure in work opportunities that provide more financial security than if they had not completed the program.
Nemak plans to award approximately five scholarships annually, each in an amount up to $5000 to assist the recipients in their tuition expense to complete their education in technical trades that include Machine Shop, Industrial Maintenance, and Electronics. We come from a fairly low income area, and some of these students’ families can’t afford tuition, so I think this helps as a full payment up to $5,000 for the program these students enter,” explained Nick Davey-Turner. Davey-Turner is the Sylacauga Plant Manager for Nemak. “Hopefully this will get them into a better situation in their lifetime.”
Dr. Jon Segars is the director of Career and Technical Education for Sylacauga City Schools. He explained the importance of Nemak’s contribution to local students. “This gives students a great chance to fine tune their skills and come right back to the community and work,” he said. ‘We have scholarships we give to students who want to pursue a career in manufacturing, but scholarships from other organizations are greatly needed because we have so many students who need it.”
Nemak is a leading provider of innovative lightweighting solutions for the global automotive industry, specializing in the development and manufacturing of aluminum components for powertrain and body structure applications. The company employs more than 23,000 people at 38 facilities worldwide, generating revenues of US$4.3 billion in 2016