Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
DECEMBER 2021 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 51 that's exciting! We have a near-100% success rate in helping a student who was not even fa- miliar with our industry, or hadn't thought of pursuing this career, change their mind. We see them getting their thoughts together, increas- ing their grades, and getting on the right path to potentially get scholarships for four-year de- grees, because some of them don't want to just get a job out of high school. ey really want to go the academic route and get that four-year degree. It opens their eyes to the potential for growth beyond operator level in the electronics manu- facturing industry. ey can get their employer (potentially an IPC member) to help them fur- ther their education, even putting money to- ward it, so they create a career path and don't just fill a job. We track teachers, asking them about the students who attended the event. Did they actually do what they said in the sur- vey they would do? It's been really upliing and positive. We get those success stories from both our STEM events and from our Student Chapter Program as well. From the connections we're making for students, we can track where they end up, which is exciting for us. It's not thou- sands of people, but it's happening. Matties: What about industry support? Obvi- ously, this is an area that everybody benefits from. Right now, there's an incredible labor shortage, and it looks to continue for a while. Competing industries are putting out some nice incentives, which, perhaps, makes manu- facturing not as glamorous as some of the oth- ers. How do the fabricators, EMS companies, and others help this effort? Gunter du Plessis: Currently, we are asking the industry for collaboration. We would like them to be willing and open to host students at their facility for tours and an opportunity to talk with people in the industry. Maybe they could participate in a career panel or a formal presen- tation. COVID restrictions have made it diffi- cult. Some facilities cannot necessarily house students, especially if they have DoD or specif- ic regulations in terms of the equipment and what they're making. erefore, we also have the opportunity for companies to sign up for a webinar and reach out to the IPC Education Foundation as a topic expert. We've done a variety of webinars over the past two years with industry and IPC staff members. Kelly Scanlon did a webinar about conscientious engineering; Patrick Crawford did one; and we had one from Altium about schematic design. All these videos and webi- nars are recorded, and can be a spinoff for in- dustry members to promote their internships, co-op programs, job shadowing opportunities, mentorships, or anything in terms of a talent pipeline or talent identification effort. We can brand it. We can do all the heavy liing. We can promote it. e Education Foundation wants to be seen as the vehicle to create connections. rough the IPC Student Chapter Program, companies can also be on campus, and can provide scholarships to IPC student members if they want to give and get involved. Com- panies can also host a college chapter. is is where a company within a group of universi- ties or community colleges, that wants to tar- get a specific group of students, can actual- ly host those students. e cost is $1,000 and they substitute the $40 membership fee a stu- dent needs to pay to be part of the IPC Edu- cation Foundation Chapter Program. We have several companies that do this, such as Summit Technologies, Weller, and Calumet, at schools such as Michigan Tech and NC State. Hosting a college chapter allows for easier identifica- tion and relationships, and creates a bridge for these companies to the students. Matties: Can you provide us with a list of all the student chapters? Gunter du Plessis: Yes. We have exceeded 50 student chapters. One third are at community colleges, and two-thirds are at universities. We