Finding the next generation for an industry that keeps the world working
ILMA Foundation scholarship program helps students realize ‘outstanding career opportunities’
CALGARY, Canada (May 29, 2024)—It’s a real-life metaphor, writ large.
Yes, the lubricant industry does keep our society’s economic engine running—smoothly and efficiently.
Members of the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) know this all too well. The lubricant industry, with its virtually limitless arsenal of oils and greases, helps to power industry, enhance commerce and drive innovation.
It may not be sexy or glamorous, but it keeps the world working.
That’s why, for more than two decades, ILMA members, including BOSS Lubricants, have operated ILMA Foundation scholarships to nurture the industry’s next generation of leaders and promote industry awareness.
“The lubricant industry continues to be challenged and negatively impacted by (difficulty in) finding new people to come into our industry, whether you’re a manufacturer, marketer or supplier,” Jarrett Flegel, President and COO of BOSS—a longtime ILMA member, and Canada’s fastest-growing lubricant manufacturer and wholesaler in Canada since 1992—told ILMA’s Compoundings magazine for a feature in its April 2024 issue.
“The Foundation scholarships help promote our industry to young students, and create an awareness for students who never were told much about our industry during their years in high school,” added Flegel, who’s also currently President of the ILMA Foundation. “Had my father not been involved in the lubricant industry, I too would never have known about this great industry that tends to get an unjustified black cloud over it.”
Since its inception, the ILMA Foundation’s scholarship program has awarded more than US$620,000 in scholarships to more than 220 post-secondary students across North America. Scholarships are awarded to students pursuing both STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and non-STEM careers.
“Students today may only think about industries that garner the most headlines in the news, like tech firms, but we have outstanding career opportunities in this field, and ILMA helps shine some light on that,” remarked Jeff Thompson, Global Procurement Director for Infineum USA, an ILMA member.
First awarded in $1,000 increments, ILMA Foundation scholarships have grown to as much as $3,500 per year.
The scholarship program “helps open the eyes of younger people today in terms of what ILMA is, what we do and what our member companies do,” said Tom Schroeder, a member of ILMA’s board of directors. “The reality is that nothing could happen without lubricants. Once people see that, it helps them realize we do a lot of good.”
In the same spirit of discovering the industry’s next generation, the ILMA Foundation also recently developed and launched an internship toolkit for companies looking to start their own internship programs.