Industry partners rally to donate CNC mill to B.C. high school

(l to r) Robyn Gray, superintendent, Cowichan Valley School District; Ryan Gough, career education coordinator, Cowichan Valley School District; Candace Spilsbury, chair of the board of education, Cowichan Valley School District; Colleen McConnell, director of communications, Construction Foundation of B.C.; Alistair Purdon, machine shop foreman, Promac Group; Larry Mattin, director of instruction, Cowichan Valley School District; Scott McKay, vice-president/general manager, Promac Group; Luke Thievin, machine shop charge hand, Promac Group. BCMMAG

The Cowichan Valley School District, which is on Vancouver Island, B.C., has partnered with local business Promac Group, the Construction Foundation of B.C., and the B.C. Metal Manufacturing Advisory Group (BCMMAG), to purchase and equip a Haas Desktop Mill for students at Cowichan Secondary.

The CNC mill was purchased using funds from all of the parties and will be used to teach the high school’s students current CNC machining practices.

“The power of our community shines through in examples like this,” said Candace Spilsbury, chair of the board of education for the Cowichan Valley School District. “We are so grateful to everyone who had a hand in purchasing this mill for our students. It truly takes a community to make a difference in the lives of students, and our strong partners came together for this.”

“We are very pleased to partner in this project and strengthen Promac’s focus of supporting our community by helping train our youth,” said Scott McKay, vice-president/general manager of Promac Manufacturing.

“We launched the B.C. Metal Manufacturing Advisory Group with a vision to build the next generation of machinists in B.C. The process we have developed provides a variety of supports for educators and their students to help gain practical hands-on experience and knowledge in machining. Over the past year we have placed seven Desktop Mills in schools across the province, and we’re just getting started,” said Udo Jahn, general manager of Modern Engineering/chair of BCMMAG.

Donations can be made at www.constructionfoundation.ca/bcmmag-fund.