WARSAW — The Warsaw campus at Ivy Tech Community College received a big boost.

At the Inaugural Chancellor’s Scholarship Breakfast, it was announced the college’s Orthopedic & Advanced Manufacturing Training Center (OAMTC) received a $17,000 grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation on Tuesday. The first-time event recognized scholarship donors and recipients from the North Central region.

“The Foundation’s Board of Directors congratulates the students who are participating in the OAMTC Training,” said Suzie Light, Kosciusko County Community Foundation CEO. “The dual credits earned through the program will put these students on track for achieving success at both high school and college.  We are very happy to support the work of the Warsaw Career Center and Ivy Tech Community College in this effort to bring meaningful career choices to students.”

The gracious gift will directly benefit Ivy Tech’s upstart program ─ a joint venture with the Warsaw Area Career Center ─ that provides Kosciusko County high school students with an opportunity to take college-based, dual-credit classes in Machine Tool Technology. The grant offers scholarship funds to students from WACC who are residents of Kosciusko County in the OAMTC program in need of financial relief.

“The (grant) will provide additional funds to support the program during its first two years as we work to identify a long-term donor for the program,” Warsaw interim campus president Michael Slavkin said. “The program will support these students toward completing requirements related to their associate degrees after next summer.”

Currently, the program has 14 students (nine juniors, five seniors) enrolled. Individuals who successfully complete the program will earn a certificate in Machine Tool Technology at the conclusion of spring semester. For the enrolled juniors, they will have an option of potentially taking traditional courses at the Warsaw campus during their final year of high school.

Tuition, books and various fees are covered through the Ivy Tech Foundation’s DREAM Scholarship, which includes contributions from local businesses such as DePuy Synthes, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation, Medtronic, Paragon Medical and Zimmer Biomet. Initial funding efforts were led by KEDCo president George Robertson.