Daily Mining Gazette
–May 8, 2017

HANCOCK — The Copper Country Association of School Boards recently
presented Mark Massicotte with the 2017 Community Leadership Award.

George Stockero, Copper Country Intermediate School District (CCISD)
superintendent, said Massicotte has been a strong advocate for
connecting business and education in the area.

“He is working to bring other business owners together to support
Career and Technical Education programs throughout the region,”
Stockero said. “Mark is a leader on the CTE Steering Committee that is
working to create a plan to expand CTE classes throughout the Copper
Country Intermediate School District.”

Since 2009, Massicotte has been an active member of the Michigan
Works! Workforce Development Board and now serves as chairman of
the Workforce Development Board for the UPWARD Talent Council of
Michigan Works!

“Mark is credited with answering the call to help reorganize the
Workforce Development Board when no one else would,” Stockero said.
“He took the appropriate actions to get the organization working again
to help job seekers and employers in the western Upper Peninsula.”

Stockero said Massicotte has also been instrumental in encouraging the
forming of two new FIRST Robotics Teams at local schools. His business,
L’Anse Manufacturing, has provided countless hours of in-kind
support to these teams.

Massicotte and his staff have been instrumental in connecting local youth
to careers in manufacturing, Stockero said. Beginning in the 201415
school year, he supported beginning a Machine Tool program at L’Anse
Area Schools that is open to students from other districts.

Through numerous meetings and consultation with the CCISD, a plan
was put in place to offer an Industrial Arts Machine Tool program that
followed CTE standards.

Massicotte and his staff worked with the instructor to determine what
could be taught through industrial arts and what could be taught at the
local manufacturer. He then organized a local group of manufacturers
who agreed to take second-year students into their facilities to teach the
remaining CTE standards.

L’Anse Manufacturing is one those manufacturers.

To encourage students to consider a career in manufacturing, Massicotte
and his staff also open their doors for student field trips. He and his team
continue to provide students with work-based learning opportunities to
experience a machine shop in full operation.

“Mark’s tireless efforts to promote manufacturing and to provide
opportunities for students to see and experience various fields of study
are a credit to himself, his staff, and his profession,” Stockero said.