AUBURN — Two students in the Machine Tool Technology program at Central Maine Community College, Robert Blethen and Caryn Fredsall, were honored recently as the first two recipients of the Roland Sutton Scholarship.

The students were selected for their demonstrated excellence in the general academics and the applied science of the Machine Tool Technology program. Blethen, who lives in Sidney, and Fredsall, of Waterford, are both President’s Honors students and members of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges. 

A director emeritus of the CMCC Education Foundation Board of Directors, Sutton is chairman of the board and founder of Maine Machine Products Company of South Paris, a family-owned manufacturer of custom precision components and assemblies. The scholarship was established by the Sutton family in recognition of Roland’s contributions to the industry and his longstanding support of education and the Machine Tool Technology program at the college.

Since 1974, the company has awarded 50 full scholarships to the CMCC Machine Tool Technology program which covers tuition, books and fees. The program, with the additional 2 years of work experience at the company, is a State of Maine approved apprentice program.

The associate degree program in machine tool technology offers broad training experience in the metal products industry. Graduates of the program are employed as machine operators, machinists, CNC machinists, tool and die makers, quality control inspectors, machine assemblers, machine tool designers, CNC programmer or field service representatives.