SME Acquires Milestone C

SME has acquired Milestone C, a Connecticut-based company vested in K–12 STEM programs that brings technology, engineering, and manufacturing to life in the classroom.

This acquisition expands SME’s national footprint in early workforce development and reinforces its mission to connect education and industry—ensuring students are prepared to work in the modern economy. It enables SME to engage learners at earlier ages, extending its high school and post-secondary workforce pipeline programs into the foundational years.

Milestone C was founded by former Sikorsky Aircraft engineer David Conelias, who recognized the disconnect between classroom learning and industry-ready technical skills. For over 8 years, the Milestone C team has prepared teachers from middle and high schools across the eastern United States to deliver its semester-long program, which immerses students in hands-on, project-based programs spanning artificial intelligence, aviation, cybersecurity, drone technology, hovercraft, and robotics.  

“Milestone C shares our vision for building meaningful pathways where young learners can experience the excitement of engineering, technology, and teamwork well before graduation,” says Jeannine Kunz, SME executive director and CEO. “I appreciate the significance of how Milestone C began—an engineer working side-by-side with educators to bring industry relevance into the classroom. Manufacturers consistently emphasize that attracting and developing talent must start earlier, and we’re responding.”

For Conelias, joining SME represented a logical next phase in Milestone C’s evolution.

“We created Milestone C to bring the energy and challenge of technology and STEM into the classroom,” says David Conelias, founder and CEO of Milestone C. “Our goal has always been to give students authentic, hands-on experiences that build technical confidence and mirror how modern industry works. We want to help educators teach iteration, collaboration, soft and technical skills, and real-world problem solving.”

“Joining SME enables us to expand our student impact nationally—reaching more classrooms and engaging more young minds—with an organization already advancing workforce development in a meaningful way,” Conelias adds. 

Together, SME and Milestone C are creating an ecosystem of learning that begins in elementary school, builds in middle school, advances via high school STEM experiences, connects to dual-enrollment opportunities and industry certifications, and continues in post-secondary programs. 

“This alignment strengthens SME’s ability to build a unified, national framework for manufacturing CTE and STEM education” Kunz says. “Early exposure to engineering and manufacturing—especially through high-quality, project-based learning is a proven strategy for building long-term workforce resilience.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.