Hypertherm, Fujifilm, local schools celebrate completion of innovative high school program

Two Upper Valley employers, Fujifilm Dimatix and Hypertherm, are celebrating the graduation of high school students from its semester long high-tech manufacturing and engineering program.

Fifteen students from Lebanon High School and Thetford Academy took part in a ceremony last night at Hypertherm’s Heater Road facility. Attendees included Lebanon School’s Superintendent Dr. Joanne Roberts, Thetford Academy’s Head of School William Bugg, representatives from Fujifilm and Hypertherm, as well as staff from both schools, and parents of the graduating students.

The groundbreaking program known as the STEM Internship: High Tech Manufacturing & Engineering, is an Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) developed in partnership with area high schools. In development for nearly two years, the program brought students from each school and placed them into the businesses as part of their regular school day. The program ran for the duration of the first semester of their school year and students earned credits toward their graduation requirements as well as earning college credit through the Running Start program.

Throughout the program, students were introduced to concepts such as human resources, resume writing and interviewing skills, product development, prototyping and engineering, production and manufacturing processes, and finance, sales, and marketing. The daily sessions provided students real-world, hands-on examples of business and manufacturing concepts in action at each of the businesses manufacturing facilities. Students learned directly from professionals in each field and were given the opportunity to immediately apply concepts as they completed projects and tasks directly related to each subject.

Mark Pichette, Director of Counseling at Thetford Academy says the program has been impactful, commenting that “Students are carrying themselves with more confidence…it’s been an extraordinary experience.” It’s a comment echoed by Marc Chabot, Dean of Academics at Thetford Academy, who says, “The investment in time, leadership, and resources by Hypertherm and Fujifilm have created a program of unmatched quality for students.”

FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation and the world’s leading supplier of piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet products used for industrial applications, is driving a revolution in inkjet technology to support a new generation of products used for print production, industrial product decoration and materials deposition. The company applies its innovative inkjet technologies and world-class fabrication techniques in the design and manufacture of inkjet printheads, assemblies, components and systems designed to jet a wide range of fluids in precise amounts onto all types of flexible and non-flexible surfaces. Founded as Spectra, Inc. in 1984, the company was renamed Dimatix in 2005 to reflect its expansion into digital materials deposition and was acquired by FUJIFILM Corporation in 2006. Learn more at FUJIFILM website.

Hypertherm designs and manufactures industrial cutting products for use in a variety of industries such as shipbuilding, manufacturing, and automotive repair. Its product line includes cutting systems, in addition to CNC motion and height controls, CAM nesting software, robotic software and consumables. Hypertherm systems are trusted for performance and reliability that result in increased productivity and profitability for hundreds of thousands of businesses. The company’s reputation for cutting innovation dates back 50 years to 1968, with Hypertherm’s invention of water injection plasma cutting. The 100 percent associate owned company has more than 1,400 associates along with operations and partner representation worldwide.