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, part of ATEK Companies, has donated $100,000 ($75,000 cash and $25,000 in kind) to New Hampton High School in New Hampton, Iowa, for a new Industrial Technology and Vocational Agriculture building. The new building will allow the school to offer classes in foundry work, welding, CNC machining, carpentry, precision agriculture and more.

“We want to invest in young people in our community and give them the skills necessary to help them land a job as soon as they graduate high school,” says Joe Brown, president of ATEK Metal Technologies. “The manufacturing sector is growing and modernizing, creating a wealth of challenging, well-paying, highly-skilled jobs for those with the skills to do them. Vocational programs like the ones that New Hampton will now be able to offer equip students with the skills necessary to pursue a trade career.”

New Hampton High School is also partnering with ATEK to offer a Foundry strand in its Industrial Technology Program. The goal is to also develop the program into a pre-apprenticeship program in foundry work. Next semester, ATEK staff will help a New Hampton teacher teach a foundry class. 

“A number of our students aren’t sure what they want to do after high school, and this facility will allow them a chance to see what opportunities are available outside of the traditional four-year college path,” says Jay Jurrens, superintendent of the New Hampton School District. “Without the investment and partnership with ATEK, we wouldn’t be able to offer our students this more streamlined approach to education with curricula focusing on developing a particular skillset and knowledge base for a career.”