Preparing students for the workplace

Providing students with employment-ready skills is a priority.

On Wednesday, the Maryville R2 School Board approved the purchase of a plasma cutting table for the Northwest Technical School at a cost of $32,825.17. Thanks to grant money, the district was able to purchase this to replace an older, worn-out table.

So what the heck is a plasma cutting table? It’s a device that allows users to cut through electrically conductive materials like steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass or copper, using a high-speed jet of hot plasma. You use it to make all kinds of metal parts for whatever you need. Pretty cool, huh?!

An advisory committee recommended this particular table because it has universal teaching applications. No matter where a student finds employment, he or she will be skilled to use almost any other plasma table.