GE Appliances and Doss High School Partner to Engineer a New Model for Manufacturing Careers
Tami Hatfield
Throughout her career in manufacturing, Tami Hatfield, Executive Director of HR Supply Chain at GE Appliances, has observed a problem facing many manufacturers: a decreased interest in manufacturing careers. While opportunities abound, employers are often unable to fill these openings. A generation ago, Louisville manufacturers had lines out the door for applications, yet now these positions often remain unfilled.
Forever a problem-solver, Tami sought to understand the cause of this problem. She reflects on a pivotal moment with her plant management team, sharing, "I sat with my plant management executive team and asked what has changed so much. I think it was the misconceptions of what manufacturing really was. I lived and breathed manufacturing. I saw all the careers, but we did not get into the high schools to expose students to what different careers there were in manufacturing." The insight, born from a struggle to fill even 2,000 positions, revealed that the problem was not a lack of jobs but a profound disconnect: students and their teachers were simply unaware of the full spectrum of modern manufacturing careers, from skilled trades to advanced technology roles.
This realization became a powerful call to action. To solve the problem, Tami began building intentional bridges between industry and education, with a commitment to making learning more relevant to a student’s future. Her approach was to bring industry into the schools and to invite educators into the heart of the manufacturing environment. This philosophy, driven by the Ford NGL vision and in line with the mission of the JCPS Academies of Louisville, seeks to transform the educational experience and align it with the demands of the modern workforce.
When Tami joined GE Appliances, the company’s collaboration with Doss High School was well underway and included an investment of a micro appliance manufacturing center at the school. Her experience connecting education and industry made her well suited to support a partnership already in place, and she and her team have been building on that groundwork to thoughtfully expand the effort for students and teachers.
This school year marks a new chapter for the Doss High School and GE Appliances partnership. The relationship intensified with a three-day teacher externship, which now serves as the springboard for a semester-long, partner-driven project-based learning (PBL) experience for the entire school. All Doss teachers and students will collaborate on real-world projects, with a final showcase scheduled at GE Appliances’ Monogram Hall on December 9th. This powerful alignment between industry and education ensures that every student is prepared not just for a job, but for a life of purpose.
The Teacher Externship
At the heart of this partnership is the idea that to prepare students for the future, education itself must be innovative. This strategic approach was intentional and scalable. This was accomplished through the partnership of Greg Ash, Doss Academy Coach, and Angela Thomas, External Manufacturing Workforce Development Trainer at GE Appliances. As a former teacher, Angela is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between education and industry. As Greg noted, the goal was to "spread out" real-world experience across "social studies, English, math, so that we are getting those hands-on pieces in those courses as well." As Doss Academy Coach Greg Ash noted, the goal was to "spread out" real-world experience across "social studies, English, math, so that we are getting those hands-on pieces in those courses as well."
From July 30–August 1, 2025, the week before school began, all Doss educators immersed themselves in a powerful externship at GE Appliances. They saw firsthand how high-tech innovation drives modern manufacturing, from the use of Virtual Reality in design to advanced scanners in quality control. These experiences demonstrated that innovation isn’t just about technology; it’s about a mindset.
Career Opportunities
The most inspiring takeaway for the teachers was the clear continuum of opportunity that GE Appliances offers. A career panel drove this home, featuring Doss alumnus Charles Malone. Greg Ash, who had Charles as a student, was visibly proud watching him speak. "Charles was a kid that sat in the corner by himself, didn't say a word," he recalled. But after participating in SummerWorks at GE Appliances, Charles "came back a different person."
Now, as a fourth-year apprentice in the FAME program, Charles personifies the journey from a hesitant student to a confident, skilled professional. His advice to teachers on how to prepare students was simple: "allow the students to problem-solve on their own, and allow them usage of all their tools and resources." This willingness to embrace new tools is a hallmark of his innovative approach. When asked how he uses AI on the job, he shared a humorous example: "I'll pull out a part and I'll take a picture of it and I'll use [an AI tool] just to quickly Google it instead of trying to type in the serial and model number and scroll for hours before I find it like the old timers do." Charles’ success is the promise of this ongoing partnership.
A Roadmap for the School Year
The externship was designed to do more than just inform; it was a powerful catalyst for action. The final day was dedicated to collaborative work sessions where teachers, guided by GE Appliances experts, began designing a semester-long, project-based curriculum. This is where the innovation came full circle: teachers are using the real-world problems and processes they witnessed to create an authentic learning experience for their students.
This powerful outcome brings to life the externship's core purpose, summarized by Tami Hatfield: "What will be a huge success is walking in the doors of Doss High School and seeing all of these students and teachers working together with mentors there from GE Appliances... for students to be confident to stand up to talk about their project and how they've put things together."
This collaboration is not just about the projects themselves but about empowering students to become the confident, innovative leaders of tomorrow. The work of this semester will culminate in a final student showcase at GE Appliances in December, a powerful testament that for every Doss Dragon, a pathway to a life of purpose is now within reach, just as it was for Charles Malone.