A few years ago I received a call on my cell phone as Ruth and I were driving back to Michigan from our winter in Florida. My friend, Jim Marvin, was seeking my advice and asking for a favor. We often sought each other’s counsel. He, however, asked for very few favors, so each one was important to me.
He wanted me to speak with his former business partner at M and S Manufacturing in Hudson. The partner was the majority stakeholder in what was left of the company. The final holdings were the several empty buildings that formerly housed a bustling manufacturing business. The company had gone out of business a few years prior and the partner was trying to establish a manufacturing training school on the site of the former company headquarters.
The partner was working with the local school superintendent, and while they were making progress on the educational side, they needed assistance on the workforce research side. Jim knew that I had a relationship with the Michigan Works system and wondered if I could help connect his old partner with the folks at Michigan Works. I could.
The first meeting was just the former partner and me. We met on a Saturday morning in the company headquarters. The partner discussed his dream of creating a state of art manufacturing training facility. He wanted it, and the town of Hudson, to become a destination site where manufacturers from throughout the region could send their employees for training and retraining. He was working with the school to research other such facilities throughout the country. He funded the research trips while the superintendent and his staff offered advice on the steps required to establish a high functioning school.
I made arrangements for the partner and me to meet with the local Michigan Works officials. We held two meetings to discuss how Michigan Works could help see the goal to fruition. After those two meetings, I stepped aside. I helped create the connection but left the actual work to be completed by others. Jim thanked me for my help and we discussed the project’s development from time to time.
The facility opened in 2014 as the Southern Michigan Center for Science and Industry AKA CSI. The first attendees came from the Hudson Community Schools. As Jim’s partner dreamed, CSI blossomed and grew. Today, the facility offers adult training, high school and middle school classes, an alternative education program, and middle college. Students from surrounding communities attend the school and a satellite program has been established in the Tecumseh High School in Tecumseh, Michigan.
CSI’s central mission is to promote the manufacturing industry. While the students who attend this school may not be interested in attending a traditional college, they are interested in continuing their education. The manufacturing industry offers a wide variety of career opportunities and CSI wishes to be a major player in the manufacturing training industry.
What started as a conversation between Jim Marvin’s business partner and the local school superintendent continues to thrive.
When Jim passed in August, his family focused on establishing a scholarship program for graduating students to attend CSI. While the community had a long history of providing scholarships to their students, they were focused on traditional higher education opportunities. Jim’s family wanted his legacy to help train workers for jobs that didn’t require such a degree. CSI, Jim’s family, and the Hudson Community Foundation developed a partnership to make that happen.
Last Monday evening, Jim’s son, Michael, and his wife, Diane, awarded the first two scholarships to two graduating seniors. The two boys are current CSI students who will have the opportunity to learn a trade because of the Marvin family’s generosity and the forward thinking of a school district willing to offer a non-traditional opportunity to its students.
As I listened to Michael speak about his father, his passion, and his desire to help others, I flashed back to the phone call that I received while retuning to Michigan a half dozen years ago.
“Bob, can you help my old partner connect with Michigan Works. He has a dream to start a manufacturing training school and could use some help.”
When I held that initial meeting with Jim’s old partner, I never dreamed that the first scholarship to attend the school would be awarded in his memory.
Wonderful Story Bob!