Career planning creates new opportunities for recent New Hampton graduate  

Friday, January 31, 2020

Last year, Tanner enrolled in a summer camp designed by Northeast Iowa Community College in partnership with TriMark Corporation in New Hampton. The camp introduces high school students to Computer Numerical Control machining technology, also commonly known as CNC.

When it’s summer, classrooms and books are often the furthest things from the minds of high school students and graduates. Summer is the coveted break from school routines, a time for swimming, sports, fun and working on tans.

Except for Tanner Lane, a 2019 graduate of New Hampton High School. Last year, Tanner enrolled in a summer camp designed by Northeast Iowa Community College in partnership with TriMark Corporation in New Hampton. The camp introduces high school students to Computer Numerical Control machining technology, also commonly known as CNC. Tanner’s participation in the camp paved the way for a scholarship and a potential full-time employment position.

“CNC work is so interesting, seeing how smaller pieces you manufacture in the tooling process are put together to function as a larger piece or product,” Tanner said. He enrolled in the CNC Machinist Technician diploma program at NICC after graduating from high school. “It surprises me how precise CNC work must be because there is very little allowance for error when tooling and making parts.”

While Tanner completes his CNC program, he’s living in an apartment in Farley about 15 minutes from the College’s Peosta campus. Planning and assistance from College staff helped to guide his career plans.

“During my high school’s J-Term in January 2019, I started job shadowing at TriMark for a few days, as well as a local machinist shop. I liked what I saw. I participated in the TriMark CNC Camp at the NICC Cresco Center and I really enjoyed this type of work,” explained Tanner.

Holly O’Brien, an NICC success coordinator who works closely with New Hampton High School students, recommended Tanner for a scholarship through TriMark to support his continued training in the field.

“Tanner was an excellent student who was actively involved, but needed more direction on what career to pursue,” said O’Brien. “Tanner became determined to do job shadows and career exploration. While exploring various careers, Tanner learned about scholarship opportunities and jobs that would allow him to follow a career path that extremely interested him, and that allowed him to graduate with minimal college debt.”

TriMark created the scholarship to support high school students and future generations of CNC professionals.

“The scholarship is covering most of the cost of my NICC program. TriMark doesn’t require recipients to work there after they graduate, although New Hampton is my hometown and I’m definitely considering it,” he explained. “I like being able to connect one-on-one with my instructors in the NICC program. Instructors encourage students and help us with problems we encounter in classes and labs. I learn better,” he said.

Being trained as a CNC machinist provides students opportunities throughout the region. The program at Northeast Iowa Community College provides the skills necessary to do a safe setup and operation of manual machines including lathes, mills, grinders, saws and hand tools. Students learn to operate, setup and program a variety of CNC machines, and design tools and fixtures to increase productivity. More information is available at www.nicc.edu/cnc.