June 17, 2026 — There’s a simple truth shaping the future of American manufacturing: students can’t become what they’ve never seen. That’s the challenge IACMI – The Composites Institute® tackled head-on and has now delivered a solution: ACE METAL Foundations.
Make It and Take It
With multiple activities for kindergarteners to fifth graders, ACE METAL Foundations STEM kits introduce students to smart manufacturing, materials science, engineering, metrology, foundational physics principles, and basic chemistry through hands-on activities and real-world applications. Each activity comes with all the necessary materials, a compelling instructional video, and a teacher’s guide. No prior knowledge required. All at no cost.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of schools about this program, and they all say the same thing – there’s nothing like this out there,” says Greg Harrell, IACMI’s workforce manager for K-12. “When we showed one teacher the kinetic critters activity, the response was, ‘We just learned about circuitry last week and that would have tied right into my lesson.’ This is coming at the right time.”
ACE METAL Foundations is the first step in a larger, nationally supported effort to inspire and educate kids towards careers in advanced manufacturing. America’s Cutting Edge (ACE) and Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeships & Learning (METAL) are both led by IACMI and supported by the U.S. Department of War’s (DoW) Office of Industrial Base Policy. ACE METAL Foundations offers age-appropriate learning that will broaden into CNC, composites, casting, and forging training in middle, high school, and beyond.
The success of ACE and METAL over the last few years, including its K-12 outreach programs, demonstrated the demand for high-quality manufacturing education across every stage of the workforce pipeline. As a result, the DoW is significantly expanding the programs’ national goals, positioning ACE METAL Foundations as the K–12 entry point for the next generation of skilled workers.
Justin Brooks, IACMI’s deputy director for workforce development, explains, “What makes the ACE and METAL programs fun and successful are the hands-on activities, the make it and take it model. We took that ‘ignite the passion’ concept and drove it down into K through five.”
By Teachers, For Teachers
Nearly half of the 24 activities are original ideas dreamed up by teachers, for teachers. For instance, with the reel machine, students build a working fishing reel while exploring mechanical systems, motion, and force transfer. Most of IACMI’s K-12 team know what teachers are looking for because they were once in the classroom.
Tabitha Harmon, a newer member of the K-12 team who until a few weeks ago was a fifth-grade science teacher, puts it this way: “What I love is that they’re completely comprehensive. The kits include all the materials that you need, and the directions are so explicit. They are step by step. I know exactly what I’m supposed to do.”
The accompanying videos serve two purposes: to ensure teachers can lead the activities and to showcase the jobs that utilize those skills. Ray Remikie is another IACMI K-12 team member who for years has been a teacher focused on career readiness.
He says, “Elementary students really don’t get a chance to explore careers as much. I’m a firm believer that exposure leads to expansion. This program gives them an opportunity to explore what they may be interested in by building something. And then they get to have those conversations with their parents, which could spark some interest for them as well.”
Ensuring activities are repeatable with affordable, accessible materials was very important to Workforce Coordinator and former English and Special Ed teacher Greg Hayworth: “They can go to Walmart, Dollar General, and they can get more supplies to repeat these activities again and again. They could go home and make straw rockets or clay forging all day long.”
Transformative Learning
Though the first set of kits is scheduled to ship in August, the IACMI team has implemented pilots and iterated the program with feedback at schools like Bean Station Elementary in rural Tennessee. It was there when Harrell saw the transformative potential for kids.
“This one little girl was in fourth grade but reading on a first-grade level,” he says. “When she started putting something together, kids were coming to her for help because she was so good at it and that made her feel so confident. From gifted students to those with learning disabilities, we’ve watched kids light up when they get to make stuff. I love it!”
Each member of the K-12 team has poured their talents and countless hours into this project and is thrilled it’s ready to reach 40,000 students in more than 100 schools by the fall of 2026 – transformative learning for so many.
Communications Manager Crystal Bentley shares, “When I was talking with one of my teenage son’s friends about ACE training, he said, ‘I’ve always wanted to do a job like that, but I didn’t even know how to get started.’ I think that Foundations can introduce those jobs even earlier than ACE and METAL.”
Shelby Bledsoe, program operations coordinator, adds, “Had I known that those careers even existed, it would have put me on a different path potentially.”
“Critical thinking and problem solving are everything, and you learn both of those by doing,” affirms Luke Kamely, project coordinator. “That’s what makes science such a fertile ground to explore the world and seek to understand it. As an educator and dad, I want to create more of those opportunities.”
ACE METAL Foundations helps students see themselves as builders, makers, problem-solvers. It’s proof that when passion is driven by a shared belief, great things happen. When students can see, build, and experience these careers early, their future changes. Because the workforce of tomorrow doesn’t start in high school. It starts the moment a child realizes—“I could do this!”
Dream. Build. Become.
