ABOVE: Four Lawrence Mercer Manufacturers Coalition members attended Farrell High School’s Partnership Breakfast to learn about opportunities to engage in career development opportunities with students. From the left, Joe Miller (Berner International), Quyrus Epps (ELLWOOD), Dena Baptiste (ELLWOOD), Chris Becker (G.W. Becker), Dr. Emily Clare (Farrell HS) and Tim Jablon (Wheatland Steel Processing).
Meeting future workforce needs starts by raising awareness of manufacturing careers at the middle- and high school-levels. That’s the reason why four member manufacturers of the Lawrence Mercer Manufacturers Coalition attended a career-awareness event at Farrell High School this week.
Farrell’s Partnership Breakfast set out to inform local employers about the emphasis on career education at Farrell Area School District, and the desire for employer participation to bring their curriculum to life.
Representatives from LMMC member manufacturers Berner International, Ellwood, G.W. Becker and Wheatland Steel Processing attended the event.
“We always want to know from area employers what skills are needed and how can we best embed it in our curriculum,” said Dr. Emily Clare, supervisor of curriculum and instruction at Farrell.
Promoting manufacturing careers
LMMC members said attending events like this and building relationships in area schools are core to the organization’s mission to promote manufacturing careers and dispel misconceptions about the industry.
“It’s important to spread the word about good, local, high-paying jobs with area manufacturers,” said Joe Miller, plant manager, Berner International. “We’d like to keep them from moving.”
Tim Jablon, owner of Wheatland Steel Processing, was another LMMC member in attendance. He had the opportunity at the event to meet and speak with several Farrell High School students about their career ambitions, which ranged from construction to military to cybersecurity and more.
“We’re ultimately trying to get the kids to know there are good jobs available with local manufacturing companies,” he said.
Connecting to local schools
Farrell is looking specifically for commitments from area employers to host field trips and job shadowing experiences, give career presentations in classrooms, and ultimately start internship programs.
“Students today only know a handful of the jobs that are out there,” Dr. Clare said. “It’s our job as best as we can to put our students in front of job opportunities that they don’t know. It might plant a seed in them that they otherwise never heard of or weren’t sure about.”
LMMC is an association of manufacturers and affiliate partner organizations in Lawrence and Mercer counties focused exclusively on workforce development. Membership opportunities are open to like-minded manufacturers who are interested in collaboratively solving common workforce challenges.
For more information, follow LMMC on LinkedIn or visit lawrencemercermfg.com.
