GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Adams County Community Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to the HACC Foundation in support of the Gettysburg Campus Fund for Excellence in Mechatronics. The fund for excellence supports the purchase of an additional state-of-the-art robot for the Robotics Lab at the Gettysburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College. The robot will allow the Gettysburg Campus to offer industrial robotics classes.  
 
The Gettysburg Campus Fund for Excellence in Mechatronics was established to ensure that HACC offers mechatronics training using the advanced technology that students will encounter in the workplace. HACC’s Mechatronics Program provides hands-on experience in programming, maintaining and repairing various electronic, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic equipment. With the addition of industrial robotics classes, the Gettysburg Campus will now be able to deliver an associate degree in mechatronics.
 
More than 20% of Adams County’s workforce is employed in manufacturing, and the average wage is approximately $8,300 more than the county’s median wage for all industries. According to the Economic Profile of Adams County, there are currently more than 9,420 manufacturing jobs in the county. 
 
Representatives from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), along with representatives from the Adams County Economic Alliance and local industry, recently toured the Gettysburg Campus Mechatronics Lab as a best practices business education partnership. At that meeting, Danijel Lolic, engineering manager at Rice Fruit Company, said, “We’re very pleased to have HACC’s Mechatronics Program supporting local industry. With the increased sophistication of our technology and equipment, we need employees who have been trained in understanding and troubleshooting electromechanical systems. Our newest maintenance team hire is a graduate of the certificate program, and we know that he received a solid technical foundation and directly applicable practical skills from this program.”
 
Photo Caption: Funds from the Adams County Community Foundation will support the purchase of an additional state-of-the-art robot for HACC’s Mechatronics Program at HACC’s Gettysburg Campus.
 
About HACC
HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, is the first and largest of Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges. HACC offers approximately 100 career and transfer associate degree, certificate and diploma programs to approximately 19,000 students. Also, the College serves students at its Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon and York campuses; through virtual learning; and via workforce development and continuing education training. For more information on how HACC is uniquely YOURS, visit hacc.edu. Also, follow us on Twitter (@HACC_info), follow us on Instagram (@HACC_edu), like us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HACC64) and use #HACCNews.
 
About the HACC Foundation
The HACC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was established in 1985 to raise private and corporate revenues in support of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College. The HACC Foundation provides funding for student scholarships, innovative academic programs, state-of-the art training equipment and modernized facilities. To learn more about the HACC Foundation, please visit haccfoundation.org. To contribute to the HACC Foundation, please visit hacc.edu/GiveNow. 
 
About the Adams County Community Foundation
The Adams County Community Foundation was created to promote and facilitate charitable giving and to build a permanent civic endowment for Adams County. While the Community Foundation’s Adams County Grants are focused locally, the Community Foundation also provides a home for charitable funds created by donors which may make grants anywhere in Pennsylvania or across the country. The Adams County Community Foundation works to inspire people and communities to build and distribute charitable funds that will benefit Adams County for generations.