KERSEY — What’s so cool about manufacturing?
That’s what students from 10 middle schools set out to discover with a video contest through The Dream It. Do It. partnership directed by the Manufacturers Resource Center in Allentown. The project is designed to get area students excited about manufacturing and the opportunities that are available in that industry.
Teams of seventh- and eighth-grade students from area middle schools visited local manufacturers, interviewed employees and owners and learned what the manufacturing process is all about. The teams then edited the footage and each created a video.
The project was truly an eye-opener for students like Alexander Clower, an eighth-grader at Oswayo Valley.
“I learned how in-depth it is and how far it goes. It’s not simple; it’s complicated,” Clower said, adding that it takes a lot of people to make a product.
Even though it’s right in her community, Emma Kennedy, a Bradford Area School student, said she never knew how oil was made or how many different types of oil there were. She learned all about it as the school worked on a video with American Refining Group.
Tuesday night the students, their teachers and manufacturers gathered with representatives of North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission and various representatives from the state for the debut of their videos and an awards ceremony at the Red Fern in Kersey.
In a recorded statement to the students, Gov. Tom Wolf commended their hard work and said the region is strategically located near six of the 10 U.S. markets.
One comment Eileen Cipriani, the deputy secretary for workforce development for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, receives regularly while touring manufacturing facilities is they need skilled workers. Today, it’s difficult to walk 5 feet in a factory without running into a computer because of the amount of robotics and technology manufacturers now rely on, she said.
“It’s certainly not my generation or my parent’s generation of manufacturing,” Cipriani said. “These jobs are here to stay.”
The average manufacturing job in Pennsylvania pays $59,540, compared to the average wage in Pennsylvania, which is $52,160, she said. Today, so many people are looking for a four-year degree without looking at the options out there for good, family-sustaining jobs, she said.
Fifty-five percent of manufacturers in Pennsylvania are 45 or older, Cipriani said. There are 3.5 million factory jobs and 1.5 million people will be needed by employers in what has been described as a skill gap. This makes it a good career path, she said.
Rep. Matt Gabler, R-DuBois, asked the students to think about what success means to them. He said success should be defined by what they are excited about and what motivates them. He said when Henry Ford invented the assembly line for the first automobile it was revolutionary, but today it seems like a simple machine compared to modern vehicles.
Every time a small step is made in manufacturing it gets more advanced, he said. By the time the kids in the room grow up today’s products will be 10, 100 or even 1,000 times better.
Taro Tanaka, a Port Allegany student, learned this even before coming to the awards ceremony. “What’s so cool about manufacturing is how it’s changed over the years and evolved,” Tanaka said.
The following schools won awards for their videos:
St. Marys Area Middle School, which did its video on Horizon Technology, won the Outstanding Creativity Ward and also the Viewers Choice Award for getting the most likes for its video on-line.
Moshannon Valley Area School, which did its video on Organic Climbing, won the Outstanding Cool Award.
DuBois Area Middle School, which did its video on Gasbarre Products Inc., won the Outstanding Educational Value Award.
Oswayo Valley Middle/High School, which did its video on Gas Field Specialists Inc., won the Outstanding Videography Award.
Also participating in the contest was Bradford Area Middle School, which did its video on the American Refining Group; Clearfield, which did it’s video on Interfuse Manufacturing: Kane, which did it’s video on the Collins Pine Company-Kane Hardwood Division; Northern Potter, which did its video on The Carpenter’s Shop; Port Allegeny, which did it’s video on McCourt Label; and St. Leo’s Catholic School, which did its video on Alpha Sintered Metals.
