MyConnection JUNE 8, 2016
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Published every Wednesday by The Newnan Times-Herald
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The Viking Graduates
By CELIA SHORTT celia@newnan.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF GRENZEBACH CORPORATION & GAMEP
GaMEP South Regional Manager Larry Alford presents Martin Pleyer with the 2016 GaMEP Face of Manufacturing Award.
Pleyer this Month’s GaMep’s Face of Manufacturing German apprenticeship program sets students up for long-term manufacturing careers By STAFF REPORTS news@newnan.com
Grezenbach Chief Operating Officer Martin Pleyer is the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s (GaMEP) May Face of Manufacturing, for his leadership in the German Apprenticeship Program. The apprenticeship – which includes work experience with pay, technical college credit and high school credit – will be the first of its kind in the United States. Each month, GaMEP highlights a different person as the Face of Manufacturing. Those chosen as the Face of Manufacturing are selected by a committee composed of representatives from Georgia Tech, economic development groups, manufacturing companies and related associations. A German native, Pleyer was required to choose an apprenticeship program, as with all teens in the country, where high school students are trained in one of more than 340 occupational fields, based on their choosing. The model requires them to spend 80 percent of their time working in the field and the remaining 20 percent in the classroom. The 80/20 split is designed to allow them to graduate on time while gaining hands-on experience in their field of choice. Pleyer enjoyed working with his hands as a child and asked for tools for his birthday, so he naturally chose manufacturing. “I was hooked the moment I stepped onto the plant floor,” Pleyer said in a press release. “I know it’s odd, but I loved the smell of the
machine room. It just told me that something was being made.” After taking on a series of roles in manufacturing as an adult, Pleyer took an opportunity in 2011 to join Grenzebach, which is headquartered in Newnan and manufactures equipment for the glass, solar, and building materials industries, including providing material handling for float lines, complete solutions for the Gypsum wallboard industry, AGV vehicles for warehouse automation, and equipment for the trucking industry. He and his family made the move to Georgia and he became very interested in the Newnan community. However, as he became more involved in the company, he realized that one quarter of the plant floor workforce at Grenzebach would be retiring in the next five years. That’s when he got the idea to bring the German-based apprenticeship program to the U.S., helping to restore the pipeline of talent starting at the high school level. Pleyer used his connections and his influence in the community to rally interest from partners and other manufacturers to help develop a similar apprenticeship program. In 2015, Georgia lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 2, allowing for the apprenticeship program to be implemented in the state. Lt. Governor Casey Cagle visited several locations on May 16 to officially launch the inaugural class of the Industrial Mechanic Apprenticeship Model for Coweta
PLEYER, page 3
Northgate High School 2016 graduate Justin Whitfield was bullied a lot in school, but he didn’t let it or being autistic stop him from working hard, graduating from high school, and becoming Northgate’s mascot, The Viking. Through his experiences he wants to show those who bullied him what he accomplished and to encourage others who may be going through the same thing. “In third grade, I was teased, hit with a chain, stabbed with a pencil, and hit in the face every day,” Whitfield said. Justin’s mom, Cindy Leopard, said she received daily phone calls from the school about the bullying, which led to him being removed from school two weeks before classes let out for the summer. “Justin lacked the ability to speak up for himself, and it seemed few were willing to stand up for him,” she said. “(Teachers) Ms. Dudley, Ms. Reaves, Mr. Perry, and Ms. Pope made fourth and fifth grades safe and enjoyable. However, in sixth grade, the bullying began again.” After a lesson in Nancy
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Justin Whitfield and his friend and teacher Kevin Jeffers hang out at a football game.
Williams’ social skills program at Madras Middle School about standing up for others, a group of girls saw him being bullied on the school bus and told the administration about it. “The bullies were punished,
and Justin learned he had folks in his corner,” said Leopard. From then on, Whitfield realized he had friends, and people
VIKING, page 4
SMART EATS FOR
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