Sierra College partners with local school district to develop future workforce

Sierra College, in Rocklin, California, and Roseville Joint Union High School District have partnered on a new dual-enrollment program to start building the workforce pipeline in high school. The school district secured $2.2 million in state grants to build a mechatronics labs at northern California’s Oakmont and Antelope high schools. Sierra College will invest additional resources and staffing.

Sierra College will ensure the new high school facility mirrors its Applied Technology Center, and teachers will be trained by Sierra faculty this summer, before classes launch this fall.

As the U.S. ramps up efforts to reshore production, it will require a new generation of engineers and technicians, and California is leading the way in employment for electro-mechanical and mechatronics technicians.

In the new high school program, students will earn real college credits in mechatronics engineering. The new labs in both high schools replicate Sierra’s facility – down to the robotics workstations and programmable logic controller (PLC) stations. The program also helps create a direct pathway to Sacramento State’s mechanical engineering program, with a goal of adding about more than 150 California students to the university’s degree program within three years.