Austal supports youth education and Mobile County Public School System with STEM donation
Austal’s pledge to support education in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields remains one of the company’s top priorities. Looking to support the local education infrastructure, Austal USA donated welding machines and supplies to the Mobile County Public School System, April 13.
Austal USA’s Vice President of Human Resources Don Keeler delivered 14 Cobramatic wire feeder welding machines and consumable supplies to Larry Mouton, assistant superintendent of workforce development for Mobile County Public School System, and Joshua Laney, assistant director of workforce development for the state’s Department of Education, during a ceremony at the Alabama Department of Commerce’s AIDT Maritime Training Center. The equipment will bolster the Maritime Signature Academy at Williamson High School providing students additional hands-on resources.
“We have an amazing team at Austal building the world’s greatest ships,” said Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle. “Our children of today will be building the ships of tomorrow so we must continue to invest in their education.”
The donation of the welding equipment further solidifies the strong community partnership Austal has fostered with the MCPSS. This partnership also includes Austal’s role with the Academy, which encourages students to explore and pursue careers in the maritime industry of welding, multi-craft and electrical fields of study.
“The education of our youth is a critical element for the success of industry,” said Keeler, who leads all of Austal USA’s training, education and workforce development. “We couldn’t have grown from 115 employees in 2004 to now over 4,000 without the continued support from our local and state partners.”
The Cobramatics are great for this application. We’ve performed regularly scheduled maintenance on these machines since we brought them in and they are a perfect, safe and efficient tool to help students gain welding experience,” said Mike Bell, Austal USA’s Vice President of Operations.
