The Precision Metalforming Association Educational Foundation (PMAEF) and the Southern New England District of PMA are excited to announce the 2022 educational scholarship recipients! These recipients have shown an interest in continuing their careers in manufacturing through enrolling in academic courses or taking part in an apprenticeship/training program.
Spring 2022
Scholarship Amount
PMA Educational Foundation: $500
Southern New England District: $500
Total: $1,000
Delroy’s interest in the manufacturing field began at the beginning of high school. Going into high school, he didn’t know what he wanted to do for the rest of his life as a career. He attended Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, CT. After exploratory, Precision Machine Technology was his choice of interest to study for high school. His interest in machine technology stemmed from the complexity and accuracy of CNC machines. He became very competent in manual machining on Bridgeport’s hand lathes throughout the next few years. He also learned to longhand program and program using toolpaths on Mastercam for CNC milling machines. Also, in high school, Delroy was selected as the Smaller Manufacturers Association Student of the Month for October 2019 and the Smaller Manufacturers Association Student of the Year for the 2019-2020 school year.
He was blessed with the opportunity to obtain a job in his junior year of high school and get on-the-job training during school. As a result, he’s been employed as a CNC technician since May 2019. Now that he’s in college and majoring in Mechanical Engineering, his career goals are to stay in the manufacturing field, become a mechanical engineer, and learn and grow at the company he’s at now.
Scholarship Amount
PMA Educational Foundation: $1,000
Southern New England District: $1,000
District Bonus: $1,000
Total: $3,000
As far as career experience, manufacturing is all Miranda knows. When she turned 20 years old, she got her first full-time job at GKN Aerospace as a technician on the shop floor. After that, Miranda knew it was a field where she wanted to continue growing and learning to become a valuable asset for any company. Before GKN, she never even saw herself attending college. In high school, she graduated early because she disliked school and skipped right past taking her SATs because she never thought she'd need them.
Furthermore, she knew that she wouldn't be able to afford school as her parents were not financially able to help. However, after a few years at GKN and learning of their tuition reimbursement program, she finally began to consider going to college and furthering her education. Once she found Goodwin, she knew she had found the place she wanted to learn.
Miranda went from a high school student just skating by to making the President's List her first semester. She could not believe how much she loved to learn when she felt like she was in her element. Eight years later, she is still working in aerospace manufacturing but in a purchasing role while still a student at Goodwin University. She has been paying for herself to learn while working full-time for quite some time now, and she doesn't see herself stopping anytime soon.
However, college is not cheap these days. Miranda is a very driven young woman determined to continue in the manufacturing industry. She would love nothing more than to eventually graduate with her bachelor's and possibly a master's degree from Goodwin while working for our state's most significant manufacturing companies. This award will help to achieve her dreams.
Chelsea Walters – Kettering University, Industrial Engineering, Sustainable Manufacturing Solutions
Scholarship Amount
PMA Educational Foundation: $500
Southern New England District: $500
Total: $1,000
Chelsea’s career aspirations in engineering are entirely rooted in her desire to bring a diverse perspective to the engineering industry and her sense of social responsibility. According to Chelsea, it is no secret that Black women are underrepresented in engineering. However, she believes that this should not be seen as a limitation but rather as a beacon sending a message that there’s a void that needs to be filled. As a Black Jamaican woman, she heard that call and decided to answer it.
Chelsea’s university education has only fortified and given more depth to her perspective. She is a rising senior at Kettering University studying Industrial Engineering, focusing on Sustainable Manufacturing Solutions. Her major was birthed from her firsthand experience with inefficient manufacturing systems and processes. Growing up in Jamaica, a third-world country, she saw the detrimental effects of unsustainable manufacturing methods and primitive waste disposal techniques, leading to record levels of plastic waste and manufacturing waste on our beaches. She saw beautiful, clear, turquoise waters colored with the remnants of poor manufacturing methods. After these experiences, there was no other career path for her than one that would allow her to create and optimize cost-effective manufacturing systems and become adept at creating innovative technological solutions.
Thus far, her journey to becoming an industrial engineer has been enriching. At her university, she was inducted into Alpha Pi Mu, the Industrial Engineering Honor Society, and Tau Beta Pi, also referred to as the Order of Engineers. The criteria for each of these societies include that your performance is in the top 1% of the Industrial Engineering students and all the engineering seniors at your university. She has also been privileged to be a recipient of Kettering University’s Robot Key Award for leadership that transcends self. She was also named an APEX member of the National Society of Black Engineers for demonstrating a strong commitment to the mission of increasing the academically responsible number of Black engineers. Chelsea’s APEX status allowed her to attend the APEX career, where she landed her first engineering internship in the manufacturing industry.
As a manufacturing engineering intern, she’s been able to lead several projects to improve operations on the plant floor. The new solutions she created by optimizing the existing manufacturing processes and the new information she unearthed that revolutionized our problem-solving methods is why she wants to become an engineer.
Delroy Panti – Central Connecticut State University, Mechanical Engineering Technology
Miranda Piacentini – Goodwin University, Engineering