SNOHOMISH — Jeremy Morrell dreams of designing the perfect hot-rod.
“If people stopped to stare at it, that would be cool,” he said, fiddling with a computer keyboard in an engineering classroom at Snohomish High School.
On Friday, Morrell perfected the corners on a computer rendering of his prototype of his senior class plaque. Each class designs a plaque and leaves it in the school’s growing collection.
But with the software Morrell was using, he could have designed the hot-rod of his dreams. About five dozen computers at the high school now are outfitted with computer-aided design software valued at more than a half a million dollars per machine.
Unigraphics, a division of Siemens, donated in November to Snohomish High School copies of engineering software that would have otherwise cost $32 million. The donation is part of the company’s Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management program, which gave away software valued at more than $4 billion to schools and colleges last year alone.
“We’re primarily interested in providing the next generation of engineers,” said Hulas King, director of Unigraphics’ educational donations program. “Anything we can do to produce a higher number of engineers will help further the economy.”
Boeing uses Unigraphics, as does General Motors, Honda and Lockheed Martin, said David Accomazzo, the company’s northwest regional director. Snohomish High School is among 9,200 schools, colleges and universities around the world that have received software donations since 1997.
In Washington state, Bellevue Community College, Seattle University and Washington State University all have received grants, King said. Other high schools in the state also have received grants, but King said he could not verify which ones.
Unigraphics hopes to help train high school students so they’ll be better equipped for engineering and manufacturing jobs, King said. When manufacturing companies fill all their open positions, they’re more likely to purchase more software.
Engineering teachers at Snohomish High School believe their students can help fill an industry desperate for skilled workers.
“The software won’t transform them into engineers, but it will get them started on the right path,” said Bryan Mossburg, a machining teacher at Snohomish High School.
With experience in state-of-the-art software, Morrell and other Snohomish High School students hope they’ll be competitive for summer jobs in engineering.
“There are people who have this perception that this is over the head of high school students, but they’re quite capable,” Mossburg said. “People are calling us and asking us to help them fill positions.”
Finding skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges to the manufacturing industry. More than 80 percent of manufacturing businesses surveyed two years ago said they couldn’t find qualified workers to fill jobs, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
“If we don’t get potential workers started on this software earlier, there will be a real crisis in the United States,” said Steve Cotterill, director of career and technical education for the Snohomish School District.
Many students assume that all engineering and manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to other countries, but that’s not true, said Frank Cox, dean of Workforce Development at Everett Community College.
“Practically every (manufacturing) employer in town turned down business in the last year because they couldn’t get skilled workers,” he said. “You’re not seeing young folks move into these areas.”
Programs such as the one at Snohomish High School could help change that, he said.
The school has used high-end design and engineering software since 2004, when Doug Roulstone, a retired Navy captain and Snohomish resident, raised nearly $300,000 to transform the school’s old industrial lab into a training center for budding machinists. The program, called Machining Pathways Partnership, offers up to 35 college credits through Everett Community College.
Last year, Mossburg began investigating the cost of upgrading the school’s software. When he called Unigraphics to inquire about an educational discount, company spokesmen told him the software could be made available free.
Snohomish High School now has about 60 computers with Unigraphics software installed. Thirty of those will remain at the current building, and 30 will be used beginning next year at Glacier Peak High School, which is currently under construction.
The only cost to the Snohomish School District is a $2,400 annual maintenance fee, Cotterill said.
The software was delivered and installed last month. Mossburg asked Joey Walla, 17, a senior, to experiment with the program and offer a presentation to the school district’s board of directors on Nov. 14.
“This is something most kids don’t get to see,” Walla said. “Because of this, I hope I can get a job this summer.”
As far as long-term plans, Walla shares a passion with Morrell, the senior with a dream to design hot rods.
“I really like cars,” Walla said. “I’d like to engineer them.”
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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