Safety & Footwear 101 - Education for Businesses and Schools
One of our favorite programs and a highlight of STEP is our Safety & Footwear 101 course. This is a complimentary offering in which we educate students or employees on foot health, shoe anatomy, the lifetime and maintenance required for safety toe footwear, and footwear safety standards. Each presentation includes demonstrations and a footwear safety kit in which we distribute giveaways and shoe care items.
This program is popular with schools. In 2019, we taught over 1,200 students over six schools in three counties. Some schools count the session as a part of OSHA training if a certified OSHA trainer is present during the presentation. Live demos and giveaways are a part of each session, and each student receive a school-issued gift card, list of state and national scholarships, and shoe care product.
Our classroom learning session is now available virtually in four short videos, which will be available by November 1, 2020 on our YouTube channel or via our Dropbox account. If you would like to nominate your school and a specific skilled trade program for an in-person session, please send us an email.
Scholarships
We offer five collegiate scholarships to 2nd year trade students who completed their 1st year at Eastern Maine Community College and Beal College. The award is based on a combination of academic merit and financial need. A student should inquire with their department chair, a student success center, student advisor, or school administration. For a list of additional scholarship opportunities available in the state of Maine and across the country, please download our list. If you would like to nominate your school and a specific skilled trade program to participate, please send us an email.
Gift Cards for Skilled Trade Students
These safety toe footwear gift cards are given out annually to participating school administrations and programs' department chairs. This is our 6th year offering a discount to students. A student ID must be shown at the sales counter. Students in need of safety toe footwear can redeem the gift card or coupon in-store or on our website through July 31, 2021. Red Wing styles are available only in-store. If you would like to nominate your school to participate in this program, please send us an email.
Voucher Program
As a part of our ongoing partnership with our schools, we offer a boot voucher program that supports financially-at-risk students. We are able to make this program using an inventory of sample footwear or reconditioned footwear used in advertising. Rather than dispose of footwear in perfect working order, we can outfit students in need of safety toe footwear. By providing this type of footwear, we can help more students participate in their chosen skilled trade program. If you would like to nominate your school's skilled trade program as a potential participant, please send us an email.
SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a national competition that promotes learning of skilled trade fields by middle school and high school students. National competitors are determined by state competitions, and we are a premier sponsor for SkillsUSA Maine. We provide the Maine Chapter with over $1,000 annually to 1st place prizes in over 15 skilled trade competitions. To learn more about this dynamic and collaborative opportunity, please visit SkillsUSA Maine.
Works for ME
Winterport Boot is the founding partner for the Works for ME campaign. Through our work with schools and our industrial accounts, we recognized the need to promote the skilled trades as a personally rewarding and economically viable career path. Our media partner in this campaign is News Center Maine and we have welcomed additional sponsoring partners Bath Iron Works, H.O. Bouchard Transportation, Moody's Collison Center, Puritan Medical Products, and Cianbro Corporation. The campaign's mission? Works for ME educates students, their parents, and job seekers on the benefits of working in the trade industries, and encourages those pursuing these careers to stay and thrive in Maine. Please visit the Facebook page to support this cause.
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