September 08, 2013 8:00 AM
This class is riveting: Jackson program makes manufacturing fun for young students, creates pipeline for employers
PHOTOS BY LON HORWEDEL
Dominik Balser, 13, of Hillsdale, spot-welds what he calls a "radioactive coaster" during the Jackson Area Career Center's "Machining U" program.
Dressed in a Lady Gaga T-shirt, jeans and bright neon yellow shoelaces, Madison Nichols stood laughing with her friends, her blond ponytail swaying back and forth as she talked.
Then, the 13-year-old Jackson eighth-grader adjusted her safety glasses, picked up her electric drill and got back to work on some finishing touches to the metal table she had just built.
"I love to weld," she said. "It's really fun."
The table legs were made of 16-gauge aluminum, and the centerpieces of the table, also welded onto each edge, were metal butterflies she created using a computer numerical control (CNC) plasma cutter. She picked that design, not just because she likes butterflies, but because it was the most complicated design the plasma cutter's computer had.
It was a challenge and a skill Nichols didn't have just a few days before — or even knew existed.
Nichols chose to spend two weeks of her summer at the "Machining U" camp in Jackson, which teaches young students a variety of manufacturing skills, from how to run a lathe, to a CNC machine — and the math that goes into it — and how to weld all the pieces together safely.
The camp is designed to teach the students that manufacturing is not dead in this state and can produce highly skilled jobs that remain in high demand.
The program, run by the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, along with its other supporting summer camps and its education programs used in local schools beginning in kindergarten, are unmatched in the state in terms of their breadth and scope, said Delaney McKinley, director of human resource policy for the Lansing-based Michigan Manufacturers Association.
"They have been the model for the entire state," McKinley said. "It's the only area or program in the state that has a seamless K-16 program that gets kids interested in manufacturing careers."
The results are just now starting to develop as the first two classes of camp graduates are now of working or college age and have graduated from high school.
Bill Rayl, executive director of the Jackson Area Manufacturers Association, which sponsors the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, said 31 students attended one or both of the first two years of the camp in 2007 and 2008.
Of those, more than a half dozen have gone on to find full-time employment at local manufacturers or are in college studying engineering or a similar discipline, Rayl said.
Then, the 13-year-old Jackson eighth-grader adjusted her safety glasses, picked up her electric drill and got back to work on some finishing touches to the metal table she had just built.
"I love to weld," she said. "It's really fun."
The table legs were made of 16-gauge aluminum, and the centerpieces of the table, also welded onto each edge, were metal butterflies she created using a computer numerical control (CNC) plasma cutter. She picked that design, not just because she likes butterflies, but because it was the most complicated design the plasma cutter's computer had.
It was a challenge and a skill Nichols didn't have just a few days before — or even knew existed.
Nichols chose to spend two weeks of her summer at the "Machining U" camp in Jackson, which teaches young students a variety of manufacturing skills, from how to run a lathe, to a CNC machine — and the math that goes into it — and how to weld all the pieces together safely.
The camp is designed to teach the students that manufacturing is not dead in this state and can produce highly skilled jobs that remain in high demand.
The program, run by the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, along with its other supporting summer camps and its education programs used in local schools beginning in kindergarten, are unmatched in the state in terms of their breadth and scope, said Delaney McKinley, director of human resource policy for the Lansing-based Michigan Manufacturers Association.
"They have been the model for the entire state," McKinley said. "It's the only area or program in the state that has a seamless K-16 program that gets kids interested in manufacturing careers."
The results are just now starting to develop as the first two classes of camp graduates are now of working or college age and have graduated from high school.
Bill Rayl, executive director of the Jackson Area Manufacturers Association, which sponsors the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, said 31 students attended one or both of the first two years of the camp in 2007 and 2008.
Of those, more than a half dozen have gone on to find full-time employment at local manufacturers or are in college studying engineering or a similar discipline, Rayl said.
Ben Marsh, 14, of Jonesville uses a power drill to poke holes into the Plexiglas tabletop of the metal end table he made in the Machining U class.
Because the camp is largely aimed at students ages 12-14, those who have attended since 2009 are still in high school. Rayl said they hear often from current high school students who attended the camps when they were younger and are now working in the summer months at local manufacturers.
Rayl said the goal isn't just to get the most amount of kids involved in a manufacturing career, but to give students more of a practical understanding of math and science.
"You can't be what you can't see, and these programs are all meant to help kids see a bigger possible future for themselves and give them tools and skills that can help them realize that future," Rayl said.
McKinley said her association has been encouraging its members to become involved with programs like this around the state.
"We believe this is what it's going to take to solve the issue with a lack of skilled workers in the state," she said.
A report released this summer by the state's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives showed that about 15 percent to 20 percent of the skilled trades workforce in the manufacturing sector is age 55 or older, and there is an increased demand for new skilled workers.
It also showed there was a 20 percent increase from 2012 to 2013 in online job ads in Michigan for skilled trades positions. The state's employment website, www.mitalent.org, shows there are now more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs available, and more than 500 are specifically for welders. For the long term, job growth in the skilled trades sector is expected to increase 7.4 percent by 2020.
First-hand understanding
Annette Norris, director of the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, surveys the shop floor at the Jackson Area Career Center like a proud mother, as the students at the manufacturing camp move from the machining lab to the welding area, each focused on their task at hand.
"These kids — these are the future," Norris said.
During the economic downturn in 2009, when General Motors and Chrysler were headed toward bankruptcy and the suppliers in the Jackson area were struggling, a lot of parents had a dim view of manufacturing, said the camp's welding instructor, Gale Brockie.
Coupled with the decline in the number of parents who have the tools and capability to do in their garage some of this work that their children are exposed to, most students would not see these machines and what they can do if it wasn't for a camp like this, he said.
But even during the downturn, Norris said, the Machining U camp has not seen an attendance drop; it takes 20 students each summer.
This year, the camp had a waiting list to get in, Norris said.
"That negative stereotype is changing," Norris said. "It takes parents, it takes teachers and counselors and hearing these success stories and knowing that the manufacturing jobs are out there."
Good pay to start
The jobs students are taking right out of high school, or during the summer break, pay around $15 an hour on average, which also helps attract interest, said the camp's machining instructor, Joe Lienhart.
Lienhart, who also teaches the high school machining class at the Jackson Area Career Center, said students who take these jobs over the summer often come back to school in the fall with a car, or a four-wheeler or other "new toys," and the other students take notice.
Later, once a student graduates from high school and opts to pursue a journeyman's card, he or she can increase pay to $18 to $20 an hour.
McKinley said this is a great selling point, because there aren't many careers where someone can start out making $40,000 a year, even before earning a college degree.
"If they have enough forethought, it can be a gold mine," Lienhart said.
During the camp, the owners and managers of manufacturing companies will attend the camp to help mentor students or assist in teaching a particular skill.
But, like college football coaches attending a high school football game, these manufacturers are also eyeing potential recruits.
Often, Lienhart said, many of the older students begin meeting with company officials and taking tours of their facilities. Eventually, some are spoken for, and when they are offered a job by another firm, they have to decline because they had already agreed to work somewhere else over the summer, he said.
Rayl said the goal isn't just to get the most amount of kids involved in a manufacturing career, but to give students more of a practical understanding of math and science.
"You can't be what you can't see, and these programs are all meant to help kids see a bigger possible future for themselves and give them tools and skills that can help them realize that future," Rayl said.
McKinley said her association has been encouraging its members to become involved with programs like this around the state.
"We believe this is what it's going to take to solve the issue with a lack of skilled workers in the state," she said.
A report released this summer by the state's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives showed that about 15 percent to 20 percent of the skilled trades workforce in the manufacturing sector is age 55 or older, and there is an increased demand for new skilled workers.
It also showed there was a 20 percent increase from 2012 to 2013 in online job ads in Michigan for skilled trades positions. The state's employment website, www.mitalent.org, shows there are now more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs available, and more than 500 are specifically for welders. For the long term, job growth in the skilled trades sector is expected to increase 7.4 percent by 2020.
First-hand understanding
Annette Norris, director of the Academy for Manufacturing Careers, surveys the shop floor at the Jackson Area Career Center like a proud mother, as the students at the manufacturing camp move from the machining lab to the welding area, each focused on their task at hand.
"These kids — these are the future," Norris said.
During the economic downturn in 2009, when General Motors and Chrysler were headed toward bankruptcy and the suppliers in the Jackson area were struggling, a lot of parents had a dim view of manufacturing, said the camp's welding instructor, Gale Brockie.
Coupled with the decline in the number of parents who have the tools and capability to do in their garage some of this work that their children are exposed to, most students would not see these machines and what they can do if it wasn't for a camp like this, he said.
But even during the downturn, Norris said, the Machining U camp has not seen an attendance drop; it takes 20 students each summer.
This year, the camp had a waiting list to get in, Norris said.
"That negative stereotype is changing," Norris said. "It takes parents, it takes teachers and counselors and hearing these success stories and knowing that the manufacturing jobs are out there."
Good pay to start
The jobs students are taking right out of high school, or during the summer break, pay around $15 an hour on average, which also helps attract interest, said the camp's machining instructor, Joe Lienhart.
Lienhart, who also teaches the high school machining class at the Jackson Area Career Center, said students who take these jobs over the summer often come back to school in the fall with a car, or a four-wheeler or other "new toys," and the other students take notice.
Later, once a student graduates from high school and opts to pursue a journeyman's card, he or she can increase pay to $18 to $20 an hour.
McKinley said this is a great selling point, because there aren't many careers where someone can start out making $40,000 a year, even before earning a college degree.
"If they have enough forethought, it can be a gold mine," Lienhart said.
During the camp, the owners and managers of manufacturing companies will attend the camp to help mentor students or assist in teaching a particular skill.
But, like college football coaches attending a high school football game, these manufacturers are also eyeing potential recruits.
Often, Lienhart said, many of the older students begin meeting with company officials and taking tours of their facilities. Eventually, some are spoken for, and when they are offered a job by another firm, they have to decline because they had already agreed to work somewhere else over the summer, he said.
Kaleb Revere, 12, puts his team’s underwater remotely operated vehicle into the Jackson High School pool for a test run.
Manufacturers "are salivating over really talented kids that have exposure to the skills they need," McKinley said.
Roger Watson, manager of injection molding at Jackson-based TAC Manufacturing Inc., spent a day volunteering at the camp and working with the kids. They will come into the working world with the skills his company needs, he said.
"We could be seeing future employees here already," he said.
The program
Norris was hired in January 2005, before any of the youth workforce pipeline existed.
That summer, the first youth camp — called "I Can Make It!" — kicked off. In the camp, students in grades four through six learned to design, build and test a variety of different projects.
After the students finished with that camp, they asked Norris what they could do next, she said, which is where the idea for the Machining U camp came from. Many of the students transition from one camp to the next as they get older.
One of those was Tristan Chandler, 15, of Manchester. He had previously attended the "I Can Make It!" camp and recently attended Machining U for the second summer in a row.
"I'm glad I did it," Chandler said. "I wasn't into it before I came, but now I think it could be a really good career."
Chandler said he may even pursue a career in automotive manufacturing. "This is good experience," he said.
Rayl said another important piece, aside from the camps, is implementing things like the Engineering is Elementary program developed by Boston's Museum of Science in classrooms in the area. It encourages young students to think about engineering problems in innovative ways from the earliest of ages.
"We've taken all those pieces and parts and developed this pipeline," Rayl said. "You can't just say 'I'm going to run a camp for fourth-graders.' If you spark interest in these kids and there's no follow-through, that's not a pipeline."
For the academy, the main focus has always been on the adult apprenticeship program, which helps retrain workers, or assist individuals in obtaining the skills needed to obtain manufacturing jobs.
But as that program was being built, the manufacturers in the community also talked of the need for creating the future workforce.
"This is a long-term workforce development strategy that was built by the manufacturing community," he said.
Making it work
Norris said she and Rayl have traveled the state to meet with other groups about their training programs and said she thinks other regions haven't emulated the success in Jackson because it takes an involved manufacturing community and champions who understand it.
"They all want to do something, and they all love what we're doing," she said. "The manufacturers are not going to come together once a month and make it happen."
She said without the support from a local manufacturing community to offset the cost, by donating raw materials and personal expertise, a program will never get off the ground.
Norris said companies in the Jackson area are quite generous with their donations because "they know we are training their future workforce," she said.
McKinley said the reason the program in Jackson has been so successful is because of Norris and Rayl, who have been the champions of it from the beginning.
"There's not enough Bill Rayls and Annette Norrises out there," McKinley said. "I've never seen two people more dedicated to kids and to this industry."
Roger Watson, manager of injection molding at Jackson-based TAC Manufacturing Inc., spent a day volunteering at the camp and working with the kids. They will come into the working world with the skills his company needs, he said.
"We could be seeing future employees here already," he said.
The program
Norris was hired in January 2005, before any of the youth workforce pipeline existed.
That summer, the first youth camp — called "I Can Make It!" — kicked off. In the camp, students in grades four through six learned to design, build and test a variety of different projects.
After the students finished with that camp, they asked Norris what they could do next, she said, which is where the idea for the Machining U camp came from. Many of the students transition from one camp to the next as they get older.
One of those was Tristan Chandler, 15, of Manchester. He had previously attended the "I Can Make It!" camp and recently attended Machining U for the second summer in a row.
"I'm glad I did it," Chandler said. "I wasn't into it before I came, but now I think it could be a really good career."
Chandler said he may even pursue a career in automotive manufacturing. "This is good experience," he said.
Rayl said another important piece, aside from the camps, is implementing things like the Engineering is Elementary program developed by Boston's Museum of Science in classrooms in the area. It encourages young students to think about engineering problems in innovative ways from the earliest of ages.
"We've taken all those pieces and parts and developed this pipeline," Rayl said. "You can't just say 'I'm going to run a camp for fourth-graders.' If you spark interest in these kids and there's no follow-through, that's not a pipeline."
For the academy, the main focus has always been on the adult apprenticeship program, which helps retrain workers, or assist individuals in obtaining the skills needed to obtain manufacturing jobs.
But as that program was being built, the manufacturers in the community also talked of the need for creating the future workforce.
"This is a long-term workforce development strategy that was built by the manufacturing community," he said.
Making it work
Norris said she and Rayl have traveled the state to meet with other groups about their training programs and said she thinks other regions haven't emulated the success in Jackson because it takes an involved manufacturing community and champions who understand it.
"They all want to do something, and they all love what we're doing," she said. "The manufacturers are not going to come together once a month and make it happen."
She said without the support from a local manufacturing community to offset the cost, by donating raw materials and personal expertise, a program will never get off the ground.
Norris said companies in the Jackson area are quite generous with their donations because "they know we are training their future workforce," she said.
McKinley said the reason the program in Jackson has been so successful is because of Norris and Rayl, who have been the champions of it from the beginning.
"There's not enough Bill Rayls and Annette Norrises out there," McKinley said. "I've never seen two people more dedicated to kids and to this industry."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.