Northern Michigan University will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first aviation maintenance technology graduates on Saturday, Sept. 17. An open house of programs located in the Jacobetti Complex is scheduled at 1 p.m. and the final competition of the AeroSkills Tournament, in which participants compete against the clock to assemble components they fabricated, will be held at 3 p.m. The public is invited to both activities at no charge.

The AeroSkills Tournament will kick off at 9 a.m. with preliminaries in three categories: students currently in trades programs, or who graduated from trades programs within the last year; military personnel who are either students or professionals; and professionals with more than one year in the field. Competitors will receive raw materials including sheet metal and hardware and must fabricate components to conform to drawings they are issued. Judges will grade the individual pieces that will be assembled in the final competition on Saturday. The competition is open to anyone willing to donate a canned good for a local food pantry. For more information, visit  www.myatg.aero/register.http://www.myatg.aero/user/register

Mark Matteson, aviation maintenance technology professor, said winners of the NMU tournament will be invited to compete against other event winners at the regional competition in Florida in fall 2017. Aircraft Technologies Group (ATG) will cover the expenses.

For more information, contact Matteson at 227-1529 or mmatteso@nmu.edu.