Ten educational institutions were announced as the recipients of Hypertherm’s 2018 Spark Something Great educational grant. 

“Choosing among the applications is extremely difficult, as we continue to see an enormous amount of need among programs teaching greater numbers of students with fewer tools,” said Betsy Van Duyne, Hypertherm’s educational program manager. “This makes getting the right equipment into the hands of students even more critical as many would not have the opportunity to learn how to use a modern plasma system without a grant like this.”

The winners were selected from approximately 150 grant applications from educational institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The grant program’s goal is to get the latest plasma technology into schools so the next generation of metalworkers can train on the equipment they will find once entering the workforce, company officials said.

Each winner will receive a Hypertherm Powermax45 XP plasma system, Hypertherm’s American Welding Society-approved “Plasma Cutting Technology: Theory and Practice” curriculum kit, and in-person training from a Hypertherm industrial cutting expert.

The grant recipients are: Arkansas Welding Academy, Jacksonville, Arkansas; Cedar Community Secondary School, Nanaimo, British Columbia; Central High School, Independence, Oregon; Fowler High School Fowler, California; Homedale High School, Homedale, Idaho; McAllen Memorial High School, McAllen, Texas; Northwest High School, Opelousas, Louisiana; Rogers High School, Toledo, Ohio; SouthTech Academy, Boynton Beach, Florida; and White County Central High School, Judsonia, Arkansas.