Five local businesses have teamed up with Stevenson Manufacturing, Automation and Design Engineering (MADE) graduating seniors on their capstone project.

Seniors are instructed to pick their own groups as well as a capstone project that they are interested in. The companies partnering with the Class of 2024 include GM, MFC Netform, Chardam Gear, Zero Tolerance and Wright and Filippis Prosthetics Accessibility Solutions.

“We’re excited to see what they come up with,” said Ali Fitzpatrick, Design Group Manager for Interior Floor Consoles at GM. “This project is preparing our next generation of designers and engineers.”

The group of seniors that Fitzpatrick is working with will design a new floor console based around the packaging constraints of the Hummer EV.

Stevenson MADE senior, Katherine Hill is working with MFC Netform with her group and has already learned a lot in the month since working with the company.

“It’s nice to already have an idea of what it will be like after school,” Hill said. “This project is teaching us life skills on how people communicate and the respect they give to each other in the workplace.”

Classmate Lucas Timbuc echoed Hill’s sentiment, “it’s nice for us to actually go out there and do a real project and get the experience for ourselves before we commit to this as a career.”

As Hill and Fitzpatrick are coming to find out, this project will prepare the students for the next level after high school.

“These are experiences that they will be able to put on their resume,” Stevenson MADE Design Engineering Teacher, Tod Rawling, explained. “Companies will look at it and be impressed by the work experience they had before even graduating high school.”

Seniors will continue to collaborate on their capstone project through the end of the year when the projects will be showcased to business partners and the Stevenson MADE community.