On June 21, Nashua Community College and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard celebrated the latest graduates from NCC’s Precision Manufacturing Boot Camp. The Precision Manufacturing Boot Camp launched last spring, and has helped students from across Southern New Hampshire prepare for entry-level careers in defense manufacturing.
“It’s a great program, it started in 2023 when SENEDIA came to NCC, they needed more skilled workers in the submarine industry,” said Jon Mason, Workforce Director at Nashua Community College.
The 10-week program is free for students, thanks to the support from The New England Submarine Shipbuilding Partnership – powered by SENEDIA through their contract with the Department of Defense’s Innovation, Capability, and Modernization Office’s National Imperative for Industrial Skills initiative.
The boot camp also receives strong support from Granite State Manufacturing, which offers interviews to all students who complete the class, and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
“Some of the students here have already applied and are in the onboarding process,” said Andy Roy, Production Resources and Planning Manager at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Roy said the shipyard is hiring in all trades, including pipe fitters, painters, iron workers, and welders.
Roy attended Friday’s graduation with a team of colleagues from the shipyard, and they’ve visited students during the regular class time this session as well. “We enjoy coming out here and encouraging students to work in the defense industry and advocate for submarine-related industries. There are good paying jobs in the trades and defense industry.”
Jeremy Barton, Production Recruiting/Hiring at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, spoke at graduation, “We came to campus last class and saw a lot of great potential, and this time we wanted to come down and see the class itself, and share our opportunities in the shipyard.” Barton said students were able to visit the shipyard’s hiring event during the 10-week session.
Professor Doug Howe, one of the training instructors, said the program has been able to grow and evolve each session since its launch, “We’re pleased to graduate this class, and we’re thankful to the naval shipyard and our industry and community partners.”
Congratulations to Precision Manufacturing Boot Camp graduates: Zachary Moses, Eric Lizotte, Colby Kingman, Warren (Matt) Hunt, Kori Haggett, Conner Grace, Aaron Blake, and Emmanuel Bela Bendegue.
About the Precision Manufacturing Boot Camp
Students learn basic machining and basic CNC Mill and Lathe setup, operation, and programming. The training also includes an introduction to Mastercam, Solidworks and G and M Code programming.
A typical training day would begin with lectures and coursework at Nashua Community College, followed by shop floor training using CNC machines and related software.
While in the program, students get to tour local companies, and they are guaranteed an interview with Granite State Manufacturing and other local industry partners upon completion.
There’s still time to sign up for the next Precision Manufacturing Boot Camp starting this September at Nashua Community College. To learn more or sign up, visit nashuacc.edu/precision-manufacturing-boot-camp
