The Contract Packaging Association (CPA) has awarded three students the annual Technical Scholarship and Tom Bacon Scholarship awards.

The recipient of CPA’s Technical Scholarship is Robert Gladwell, a native of Novi, Mich. and a Michigan State University School of Packaging student. CPA’s Technical Scholarship is for students in their junior or senior year, as of fall 2018, and are pursuing a degree from an accredited college, university or vocational/technical school in the packaging field.

The Tom Bacon Scholarship recipients are Joseph Hintz, who will attend Purdue University this fall, and Kelsey Bekermeier, a rising senior at the University of Missouri. These students have a direct connection to members of CPA. Joseph is associated with Manufacturing Solutions International (MSI) in Portage, Ind. And Kelsey, a repeat scholarship winner, has connections with Pac Moore in Hammond, Ind. Both MSI and Pac Moore are long-time CPA members.  

Tom Bacon Scholarship candidates must be pursuing a degree at an accredited college, university or vocational/technical school in a course of study relevant to a career in the packaging industry within the U.S.

“CPA is honored to provide scholarships to these promising packaging students, which in turn helps close the manufacturing skills gap by developing a qualified emerging workforce,” said Tim Koers, CPA president. 

The Tom Bacon scholarship, which was created in 2017 to support packaging education and to raise awareness of the packaging field as a career choice, pays tribute to CPA founding father Thomas Bacon. The CPA Board of Directors worked directly with the Bacon family to create the scholarship in honor of this industry icon. The unique aspect to this scholarship is that it is only offered to family members of employees working at CPA member companies.