Employers Recognized for Boosting and Growing the Region’s Talent Pipeline

M³ (M-cubed) partners MPS, MATC and UWM honor businesses and industries for helping students explore the world of work

Mark Feldmann, feldmam1@matc.edu

August 23, 2024

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We are in this together with our M³ partners and with our employers. You are the engine that drives our economy. With your valuable help, our students can learn what to expect in the workplace.

Dr. Anthony Cruz MATC President

Mohammed Hameed’s spirit soars when he thinks about working with aircraft engines.

“I love the idea that people’s safety, from the moment they take off until they land, can be in your hands,” said Hameed, who graduated from Milwaukee Public Schools’ Bradley Tech High School and is in the Aviation Maintenance Technician program at Milwaukee Area Technical College. 

Hameed got interested in all things aviation during a summer internship with Aviation Careers Education. Also known as ACE, the program is managed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Bureau of Aeronautics.

The bureau was one of 400 regional employers that have partnered with M³ (pronounced M-cubed) to develop a workforce pipeline for the Milwaukee area. M³ is an educational partnership connecting  MPS, MATC and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

During an employer appreciation breakfast held Thursday, August 22, at MATC’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus, M³ leaders honored those industry partners for giving students valuable opportunities to explore the working world. 

“We are in this together with our M³ partners and with our employers,” said MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D. “You are the engine that drives our economy. With your valuable help, our students can learn what to expect in the workplace.”

The businesses support M³ efforts by offering internships, participating in job fairs, sharing career information with students, and connecting what students learn in class with the skills they need to succeed, said MPS Interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan.

“These connections are so impactful,” Galvan said. “They help students to not only find out what they might like to do, but also what they might not want to do.”

M³ partners view employers as co-educators, said Laurie Marks, executive director of UWM’s Center for Student Experience and Talent. “Students absorb and understand the working world so much better when employers are in the room,” she added.

The ACE program won the Paving the Pathway Award, given to an employer that provides exemplary opportunities to students and helps them advance in their educational journeys. 

ACE is an ideal example of effective collaboration between schools, industry and government, said Tamera Coleman, MPS internship coordinator. “This program has been a trailblazer,” she added. 

More than 1,000 students have learned about aviation careers in the 35 years ACE has operated, said Max Platts, Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Aeronautical & Technical Services section chief.

“This is a unique program and super special,” Platts said as he accepted the award at the event. “We have been able to have so many students explore an industry that has so many options and opportunities.”

During the program’s eight-week internship, students work 40 hours a week at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport and experience every function in aviation, from boarding a plane, seeing air control tower operations and fixing aircraft, said Olivia Conklin, the program’s education manager. 

At one point in high school, Hameed wanted to be a pilot, so he signed up for the ACE program. Once he saw the hands-on world of aircraft maintenance, he quickly changed his mind. After graduating, he enrolled in aviation at MATC.

“Two years is much more compact,” Hameed said. “I will get done sooner and will get into the field faster.”

About M³ (M-cubed): Founded in the spring of 2015, M³ seeks to transform the future of Milwaukee through education. Through collaboration, coordination and partnership, MPS, MATC and UWM will increase the retention, graduation and career success of our students and provide a prepared workforce and citizenry for the Wisconsin economy. M³ will also provide the education and resources to help drive an entrepreneurial mindset for all students to increase choices and opportunities for growth.

About MATC: Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
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