VMA celebrates its first graduating FAME class of advanced manufacturing workers

All four members of the graduating class are moving on to working full time at their sponsor companies.

By Jarleene Almenas
| 4:00 p.m. May 15, 2023

The first FAME graduating class in Florida: Brian Mateo, Tanner Thacker, Tyler Cheatham and James Giesinger. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Erik D'Aquino, vice president of Daytona State College, speaks during the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 12. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Graduates Tanner Thacker, James Giesinger and Tyler Cheatham. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

School Board members Carl Persis, Jessie Thompson and Jamie Haynes attended the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 12. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Junior class members Chase LeBlanc, Jacob Harding, Jonathan Hanson, Jonathan Sosa, Frederick Faulkner and Victor Bowling. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, speaks during the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 12. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

County Councilman Jake Johansson asks a question during the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 12. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, and James Giesinger, who will be moving on to work full time at Hudson Technologies. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, and Brian Mateo, who will be moving on to work full time at B. Braun. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, Tanner Thacker, who will be moving on to work full time at Germfree, and Roy Wilsey, of Germfree. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, and Tyler Cheatham, who will be moving on to work full time at Dougherty Manufacturing. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Jayne Fifer, director of education of the Volusia Manufacturing Association, hands each of the graduates a letter from Congressman Michael Waltz. Photo by Jarleene Almenas

Ormond Beach Observer
Business

With the need for skilled manufacturing workers increasing at local companies, the Volusia Manufac-turers Association, in partnership with the Toyota FAME program and Daytona State College, has crafted a solution: Providing training themselves.

On May 12, the graduating Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education class was celebrated in a ceremony at the DSC Advanced Technology College. All four members of the graduating class — the first of the Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter, which is the first in the state — are moving on to work full time at their sponsor companies.

The graduates and their sponsor companies were:

Brian Mateo, B. Braun
Tyler Cheatham, Dougherty Manufacturing
James Giesinger, Hudson Technologies
Tanner Thacker, Germfree

All four graduated with associate degrees in engineering technology, an advanced manufacturing technician certificate and two years of work experience at their sponsor companies, and have done so debt-free, according to a news release.

“The accomplishments of the FAME program provides proud moments in the history of the college, and one that I could not be more excited and thankful for to be here to witness,” Erik D’Aquino, vice president of Daytona State College, said at the ceremony.

He also thanked the companies that have partnered with the program.

“You don’t find that often — companies that have the mindset that, ‘We’re going to strengthen our community in order to strengthen our company,” D’Aquino said.

In addition to the four graduates, the seven members of the junior class were also present at the ceremony.

Their sponsor companies included SCCY, Sparton, ABB, Germfree and Everglades Boats. ABB, Germfree and Hudson Technologies are all manufacturers based in Ormond Beach.

Cory McAndrew, general manager of By Light and a Florida FAME Sunshine Chapter Board member, said the local companies are invested in the program because they need the workers.

“We need bodies,” he said. “We need skilled labor to accomplish making a difference and to keep things made in America.”

When asked what their favorite part of the program was, Thacker said it was the opportunities it afforded him.

“You get thrown into a manufacturing plant and you’re around a bunch of people who have a lot of knowledge,” Thacker said. “It’s best to soak it up as much as you can.”