Bartlett (Tenn.) High School recently opened a Machine Tool Tech Lab on campus where students can learn how to use machinery to make medical devices, reports The Commercial Appeal.
The new facility, which can accommodate up to 150 high school students, houses about a dozen machines and technology simulators. In the evenings, the high school's lab will be used to hold classes for adults at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, which paid $215,000 for the lab's equipment.
Students can take career and technical education classes through the high school, moving on to dual enrollment classes through TCAT at the facility, according to Bartlett Superintendent David Stephens.
The idea for the facility stemmed from local medical device companies' need for trained workers, according to Rick Loyd, director of supply chain for Odyssey Medical Technologies — one of about 10 device companies based in Bartlett.