Almost every place in the world needs heating and cooling.
Greendale High School senior Riley Smith wouldn’t mind having a job that never goes away.
Milwaukee Area Technical College has just what Smith is looking for: a program that will teach him to keep homes, offices and factories warm in the winter and comfortable in the summer.
“Almost every place in the world needs heating and cooling,” said Charles Barbour, an air conditioning and refrigeration instructor at MATC since 2016. “And this field always needs people.”
Smith was one of nearly 150 high school students who gathered at MATC’s Oak Creek Campus on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, to explore and experience careers in manufacturing such as welding, tool and die making, diesel powertrain servicing, CNC machining, and Barbour’s specialty, heating and cooling systems.
“That sounds great to me,” Smith said. “Going through life without ever worrying about a job would be awesome.”
Students from Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Oak Creek, St. Francis, South Milwaukee and Whitnall high schools participated in the Heavy Metal Tour, a daylong event sponsored in part by All Within My Hands (AWMH), a nonprofit foundation established by the members and management of the rock band Metallica to support and advance careers in “heavy metal” manufacturing fields.
The goal of the event was to expose students to the opportunities in manufacturing and perhaps change their perception of those careers, said Patricia Nájera, Ph.D., regional director of MATC’s Oak Creek Campus.
“We want you to know that you have options after high school,” Dr. Nájera told the students. “You should consider coming to MATC.”
In addition to affordable tuition, the college offers hands-on training for high-demand, high-paying trade careers and gets graduates into the workforce fast, Dr. Nájera added.
The students spent the morning touring workspaces and labs dedicated to the maintenance and repair of heating and cooling equipment, woodworking, welding, and CNC machining.
After lunch, they traveled to and visited several local employers, including Regal Rexnord, Eaton, ATI Forged Products and Carma Laboratories.
Students also received Metallica T-shirts and posed for photos to show their support for the AWMH Metallica Scholars Initiative.
In July 2022, MATC was selected from a competitive field of community colleges across the country to receive money from AWMH. In the past three years, AWMH has given MATC $275,000 to support trade programs, and the college has awarded 80 scholarships of $1,000 each, said Carol Voss, associate dean of the college’s Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation Academic and Career Pathway.
“It’s always an exciting day when we can show young people what their future could be,” Voss said. “We hope to see a lot of these students back here as MATC students.”
Find out about the programs offered in MATC’s Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation Pathway
About All Within My Hands (AWMH): Established by the members and management of Metallica in 2017 as a means to invest in the people and places that have supported the band, AWMH is focused on supporting sustainable communities through workforce education, the fight against hunger and other critical local services. All expenses of the AWMH are covered by the band, the board and a few special friends so that 100% of donations go to the organizations it supports. AWMH is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
About MATC: As 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.