Old National Bank Awards $15,000 Grant To Support Moraine Valley Pre-Apprenticeship NDT Program

PALOS, IL—The Moraine Valley Community College Foundation received a $15,000 grant for technical and trade education on the heels of the college's referendum win to expand career-ready technical education.

The grant from the Old National Bank Foundation was presented to the foundation during the college's board of trustees meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and will support the nondestructive (NDT) pre-apprenticeship program at the college.

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"NDT is a growing field that plays such a critical role in building and maintaining our complex infrastructure. Without trained NDT technicians and engineers, we wouldn't feel safe while flying, driving our cars or even taking the elevator," Kristy McGreal, said in a news release, executive director of the Moraine Valley Foundation. "We thank the Old National Bank Foundation for this generous gift and their belief in this much-needed program."

The NDT Program was launched at Moraine Valley in 2018. At the time, it was the only program of its kind at an Illinois community college. Today, the program is fully approved by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, ensuring students receive training aligned with industry standards. All instructors are ASNT Level III certified, bringing top-tier expertise and real-world experience to the classroom.

In 2024, thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Congressional Funded Community Project, the college's NDT Lab was upgraded with cutting-edge technology, including a magnetic particle inspection machine, phased-array ultrasonic testing devices, eddy current scanners and probes, a liquid penetrant station and digital radiography tools.

"There is a lot of demand for jobs in NDT right now," Moraine Valley's NDT Program coordinator Sal Razi said. "Companies looking to hire come to us to inquire about the students who have completed and are finishing the courses."

Visit Moraine Valley NDT for more info about the program.