Leaders of The AED Foundation last week traveled to Severn, Maryland to present Anne Arundel County Public Schools Center of Applied Technology (CAT) North with a Certification of Recognition for their cutting edge diesel technician program. “We are very pleased to present this recognition to a very deserving school,” stated AED Foundation Chairman Denny Vander Molen. “Though we have 42 diesel technician programs at 32 Accredited Colleges throughout the United States and Canada, this program in conjunction with Pennsylvania College of Technology, is the only high school program that meets our rigorous standards.”
Secondary or high school technical programs become AED Foundation Recognized by meeting technical standards that: a.) are locally developed and mutually agreed to by the secondary school, the local AED Accredited college program (in this case Pennsylvania College of Technology), and industry stakeholders; b.) are derived from and a subset of AED Foundation national technical college standards, and c.) provide a rational and seamless progression from secondary to college technical education.
“The technician shortage costs the construction and heavy equipment industry $2.4 billion per year. That’s money taken off of dealers’ bottom lines and out of the pockets of the men and women who already support our businesses. That’s lost opportunity and missed chances to pursue new customers and projects. That’s investment removed from the supply chain, sending ripples across the entire economy and into every industry, “ stated AED Foundation President Robert Henderson. “That’s why it’s so important that we develop programs like this at the high school level. We simply can’t wait until college any longer,” he added.
Joining the AED Foundation Leaders at the recognition ceremony were CAT North Principal Dan Schaffhauser, Assistant Principal Lori Chearney, Diesel Power Technology Instructor Jake Kepich, local AED Member Lucas Ochmann, Marketing Director for Security Equipment Company, Dean of Transportation & National Resource Technology Justin Beishline, Pennsylvania College of Technology and Deb Albert, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Coordinator of Career and Technology Education. “We really appreciate The AED Foundation coming here to recognize our program,” Albert stated. “Our message is that every student does not need to go to a four year college and come out with a mountain of debt. There are great careers in diesel technology and we want to help students get started,” she concluded.
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AED is an international trade association representing companies involved in the distribution, rental, and support of equipment used in construction, mining, energy, forestry, power generation, agriculture, and industrial applications. More information is available at www.aednet.org.
The AED Foundation enhances the success of member companies by encouraging continuous learning, by providing educational opportunities for today’s employees, and by improving the availability and quality of equipment industry employees in the future. More information is available at aedfoundation.org.