Eleven manufacturers are welcoming high school students into their facilities as part of the Manufacturing Association of Central New York’s “Manufacturing Days.”
Over 400 high school students from 13 central New York school districts are getting the chance to tour local manufacturers as part of MACNY’s National Manufacturing Day recognition. Students will tour facilities and meet workers from eleven different local manufacturers. Randy Wolken, president of MACNY, said the programming is a great way to open up the world of local manufacturing to students.
“Individuals, students drive by facilities like this and they see the exterior and they don’t see anything,” Wolken said. “They get to come inside, see the production process, see people who look like them and act like them actually making high-tech products.”
Wolken said today’s students will have more opportunities than they would have 20 years ago. With manufacturing opportunities on the rise in central New York, he said it’s important to show students what is out there.
“Getting younger people interested in these jobs early on, everything from skilled trades to degrees like engineering, math-related are all on the horizon,” Wolken said.
He added that without awareness, students would be less likely to take opportunities locally.
“If we don't have awareness, young people will think, ‘well maybe I don’t have an opportunity here in central New York,’” Wolken said. “We could lose them to other parts of the country when they could stay here.”
