Bucktail and Central Mountain Students Attend Manufacturing Day at First Quality

RecordStaffNovember 1, 2018Last Updated: November 1, 2018

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Bucktail students pose at the main office of First Quality, McElhattan facilities. The group was chaperoned by Construction Trades teacher, Bill Probst and KCSD Career and Technical Education Director, Kurt Lynch. Students picured: Cory Bennett, Nate Fort, Adrian Olsen, Conner Swope, Dylan Strouse, Gaven Becker, and Kenny Winkelman. Photo courtesy Keystone Central Community Outreach, photo provided.

McELHATTAN -The area’s largest employer recently held its inaugural Manufacturing Day and invited local high school students to spend the day touring and learning about today’s world of manufacturing.

Albert Jones of First Quality organized the event. The day began with an overview of the company, followed by tours of several companies located at the McElhattan campus, and a break for lunch provided by First Quality. Students also met with and had a Q & A with team members from controls, projects, and process engineers.

Central Mountain students were chaperoned by Social Studies teacher, Jody Bitner, English teacher, Chryssie Miller, and Auto Mechanics teacher, Ryan Broughton. Students pictured: Dylan Andrus, Jonas Tomolonis, Brady Williams, Aaron Swartz, Jade Haines, Johnathan Packer, Zachery Miller, Michael McDonald, and Zachariah Reed. Photo courtesy Keystone Central Community Outreach, photo provided

Manufacturing Day is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. First Quality gave local students the opportunity to see how manufacturing has changed, grown, and become more automated. As First Quality continues to grow, so does their need for a workforce. What better way to grow a workforce than to look to local high schools for students who are seeking a job upon graduation.

There has been an increase in funding at the state level to prepare the next generation for the job skills gap. Focusing on Career and Technical Education students, funding is used to create more hands on and educational opportunities to bolster industry work force and weaken the impact of the skills gap that has already began to affect the trades, including manufacturing.

Both Bucktail and Central Mountain’s visit to First Quality was financed through a grant from PA Career Link. The grant covered all transportation and classroom substitute costs.