Loading ...Manatee Technical Institute (MTI) is a vocational and adult education school located at the mouth of Tampa Bay in southwestern Florida. For years the school has specialized in programs ranging from law enforcement to nursing and web design. Its fundamental skills are well known, since they regularly participate in an organization called SkillsUSA, described as the Olympics of trade schools. Students compete in events that demonstrate their skill in a certain trade. Manatee has managed to walk away with more medals than any other trade school for the past six years—a feat it is particularly proud of.
Soon, however, MTI hopes to add a new category to its medal rankings: composites in boat manufacturing. In 2007 Florida State University approached MTI to see if it would be interested in using grant funding from FSU’s Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials (CEAM) to develop a marine education section at MTI. FSU approached MTI because they wanted to focus on composites and Florida’s marine industry. According to the proposal, authored by Dr. Ben Wang, director of the CEAM, the short-term (one to two years) economic impact of the CEAM will come from transferring sustainable, closed molding technology into the recreational boat building industry—an important industry that in 2007 employed nearly 100,000 people and generated more than $3 billion a year for Florida.
While the school was anxious for the opportunity, it needed to meet certain grant requirements; foremost it needed to find an instructor familiar with composites who could demonstrate and teach students the techniques required. Within a year they found David Stinnette, who had worked in the boatbuilding industry for over 30 years. He began a carpenter apprenticeship when he was 18 years old and worked his way up until he became a master boat builder for a successful company.
MTI began the Boat Building—Wood and Fabricated course in January 2008. Each student must complete six sections, which takes on average two years to complete. “Our goal is to teach, comprehensively, the newest methods of composites technology both to students and to those within the work force,” says Stinnette. “For example, students are learning vacuum assisted resin transfer molding by making skateboards and an 8-foot dinghy.”
Since its inception in 2008 the class size has grown considerably. Stinnette began with four students, and now has 16, a quarter of whom are high school students.
Besides marine manufacturing applications, Stinnette wants to teach students basic business practices. “They need to learn to show up on time and to follow the rules—important things in the work force,” he says.
Yet Stinnette admits that he is somewhat hesitant for graduates given the current economy. “We have a placement counselor but it’s tough right now. It’s hard to promise a job. What MTI can promise is that they will learn basic hand skills and terminology—they will have the chance to learn as much as they want.”
He believes this education will give his students an advantage in the work force, especially in such a marine manufacturing saturated area as Florida. “I think in the past the boat building industry in this area has had so much work, they would hire anyone and just give them onsite job training,” he says. “But onsite job training was so limited that employees ended up doing very little and many mistakes were made. At the time business was so good that companies could absorb the cost. That’s not the case anymore. Employees and employers need versatile education.”
