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• Still Poppin’

  AC Horn Manufacturing. Built with integrity. It all started in a modest garage in Texas in 1907...

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• Michael Horn named CTE Champion of the Year by Dallas Independent School District

  The team at AC Horn has greatly enjoyed working with students from the Dallas Independent School District’s Career and Technical Education Program over the past year. Apparently, the feeling is mutual, because the district named company President Michael Horn its CTE Champion of the Year.

  

  The honor comes as part of the CTE program’s 3D Design Challenge, which was begun as a way to honor some of the district’s industry partners and showcase how their engagement affects students. Horn’s award represents that he is an “all-around advocate for all things CTE (students, teachers, department, and other partners),” according to the district, which added that “Michael exemplified this award by continuing to advocate for the underrepresented career cluster of Manufacturing with the following: sharing his network to get involved with the CTE program, reaching out to the CTE program to inquire if we needed/wanted manufacturing equipment, being an active member of the Industry Leadership Council (ILC), sharing his experience with hosting a virtual worksite tour, reaching out to the CTE department on job opportunities at his company, hosting student interns during this year's internship program, and being the first industry partner to host a virtual worksite tour during the 2020-2021 school year.”

  “We have enjoyed working with the district and the CTE program, and our first two summer interns were great additions to the AC Horn team,” Horn says. “They got exposure to things they may want to do in their careers and plenty of hands-on experience. We are eager to continue helping our diverse student population get plugged into real-world opportunities where they can visualize and understand all that they are learning from the CTE’s outstanding faculty and curriculum.”

  More than 50,000 of the school district’s students are enrolled in the CTE program, whose mission is “every Dallas Independent School District CTE student will graduate with a high school diploma plus post-secondary credit and/or industry-recognized certification.” To meet this goal, the district offers courses across 135 comprehensive CTE pathways to students in grades 6 through 12.

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• AC Horn inaugural internship with Dallas schools is a resounding success

  When representatives from AC Horn attended a virtual job fair for the Dallas Independent School District’s Career and Technical Education Program last spring, they were hoping to find one candidate for a summer internship. Instead, they were so impressed with the CTE students that two were hired — a big move for a company with only 70 full-time staff.

  That level of talent set the tone for the entire internship, which ran from mid-June through August, says Michael Horn, president.

  “Our team was so impressed with these two students, one of whom worked in an engineering support role, while another learned CNC, or computer numerical control,” Horn says. “Typically, a trainee would start on a manual lathe rather than CNC, but our intern was a natural and picked it up in a week. By the end of his internship, he was an equal member of the machine shop.”

  The second intern had equally solid achievements, doing 3-D AutoCAD work by the end of his program, Horn adds, noting that the hands-on learning at AC Horn could be invaluable to the two students in their future studies and careers.

  “The school system sent us the best of the best, and we were able to pick up where classroom teaching left off and allow them to learn on the job,” he says. “We didn’t know what to expect, and now can see the great things that the CTE program is accomplishing with their students. I hope we can get more of them next summer and eventually bring them back as new staff members. This program is really good news for us, as well as other manufacturers in the area, because it shows that our school system is working to create a pipeline of skilled workers that will help us attract and retain top talent and grow our local economy.”

  

  The internship program participation is a part of AC Horn’s ongoing partnership with the Dallas ISD.

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• Michael Horn Announces Partnership with Dallas Schools to Promote Careers in Manufacturing

  On October 2, Manufacturing Day 2020, AC Horn hosted virtual tours of the company’s manufacturing facility for students in the Dallas Independent School District’s Career and Technical Education program. The tours are part of the district’s efforts to introduce students to skilled career opportunities in manufacturing (welders, machinists, draftsman, engineers, etc.) During morning and afternoon tours, AC Horn President, Michael Horn gave students a firsthand look around the manufacturing floor, then hosted a virtual Q&A session.

  As part of its partnership with the Dallas ISD, AC Horn will also be providing a summer internship at its facility. “We’re excited to be working with our local schools and to be able to introduce students to and support vocational careers in manufacturing,” said Horn. “There’s a shortage of skilled technical labor in the Dallas area, and this is a way for us to encourage students to consider these career paths.”

  To learn more about Dallas ISD's Career and Technical Education program, visit dallasisd.org/ctepartners. To find out more about AC Horn internship and career opportunities, Contact Us.

  

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