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In Closing… It is important to raise awareness of the many high-skilled manufacturing jobs that remain unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates. The need to fill these high tech, high -wage jobs with well qualified, credentialed candidates is urgent. FLATE’s goal, and that of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) investment in FLATE, is not only to help meet current workforce needs, but also to develop and implement long-term, sustainable strategies for building and maintaining attractive, relevant, strong, and flexible career pathways to support Florida's manufacturers. Clearly manufacturing has an “image problem” and changing the face of manufacturing and exposing students to the many good jobs waiting to be filled is extremely important. School and industry partnerships are the key to making this a reality. FLATE’s mission, as Florida's go-to organization for high tech manufacturing and advanced technical education, is to provide leadership, best practices, and resources supporting Florida's high-performance skilled workforce. Tangible results are not possi- ble without the energy and forward thinking perspectives of its partners. Partnerships between educators and the manufacturing industry ensure the relevancy of educational programs. Through partnerships, students are connected to industry role models so they can gain an accurate understanding of the manufacturing industry and see that there is an eventual return on their investment of time and effort at school. Working together, school and industry partners can create a win-win situation, provid- ing authentic, well integrated connections to the world of manufacturing, and attracting workers already equipped with the skills and knowledge that will ensure their success in the manufacturing workplace. 21