Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) was awarded part of a $7.7 million grant from the Skill UP! Indiana Program during the Inaugural Indiana Sectors Summit on October 19-20 to continue its innovative workplace simulation projects in local school districts.
NSWC Crane earned the grant money because of its efforts in developing a business simulation pilot program for Bloomfield Jr./Sr. High School in 2015.
The pilot program included a classroom designed to replicate NSWC’s equipment and décor, providing a realistic simulation of the base where personnel worked with teachers to help kids complete a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) project that is similar in nature to real-world problems that Crane solves on a daily basis.
Commanding Officer Capt. Jeffrey Elder accepted the award on behalf of NSWC Crane, which plans to use the grant money to create similar workplace simulation programs in other local school districts.
The goal of the programs is to give kids the opportunity to look at different STEM-related career paths while still in high school.
“This is an opportunity for you to see what goes on in the engineering process and see the business model of what occurs at Crane,” Bloomfield principal David Dean told his students during the pilot program in 2015. “Maybe it will strike a chord with you and you can come back to our area and make a very good living here.”
Skill UP Indiana! is funded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD).
NSWC Crane News 