OLEAN — About 130 Olean High School students on Friday enjoyed diving into the possibilities of pursuing a career in manufacturing and the local job opportunities available with the instructors and employers who live it every day.
Dream It Do It continued activities for National Manufacturing Month this week, culminating with tours of Cutco and Jamestown Community College’s Cattaraugus County Campus for Olean students, including three hands-on sessions in the college’s MTI building.
The event was coordinated locally by JCC and Evelyn Sabina, director of Dream It Do It Western New York. The goal of Dream It Do It is to promote careers in advanced manufacturing as well as convey the importance of STEM education for secondary students in the region. Another goal is to provide educators with an understanding of the technological needs of area manufacturers so they can share that information with students.
“Kudos to JCC, Cutco and Olean High for giving students insight into possible careers in our area, despite a few minor challenges,” Sabina said.
Due to severe weather warnings, JCC’s campuses were closed with students and staff working remotely but opened up the Olean campus for high school students. Laura Hodara, assistant high school principal, juggled schedules and recruited teachers at the last minute, and even delivered lunch for the students.
Kathleen Martel, director of Workforce Development at JCC, said they were happy to host the Olean students. She said their goal is to give them a chance to try out the equipment and experience what it might be like to attend classes there or work in manufacturing.
“We have a lot of great programs to offer at JCC, and it’s great to show those opportunities to students,” she added.
Over at Cutco, students took two-hour tours of the facilities and had discussions with the company’s teams.
“The Cutco team gave inspiring presentations and insightful tours to over 100 students,” Sabina added. “Thank you to everyone involved.
Dream It Do It’s Manufacturing Month has been celebrated over the course of two — soon to be three — busy months, Sabina said. It began in October with Wellsville High School technology students visiting Great Lakes Cheese and MTI building at JCC.
Salamanca High School students visited the MTI building, Keystone Tool & Die and Eaton, where HR manager Jennifer Clarke gave them a tour last week.
“After a couple of years with COVID restrictions, it was so great to have the students back in our factory, learning about manufacturing and the products we make in our community,” she said.
With about a dozen tours by schools across the two-county region, the interest in manufacturing and STEM careers is growing. In a survey many students filled out following the tours, 82% said they would now consider a career in manufacturing, up from 51% before their tours.
Students were also asked how important manufacturing is to the region’s local economy on a scale of one to five. Before the tour, more than 50% rated it 1/5 or 2/5. Following the tours, however, more than 70% of students rated manufacturing’s importance a 4/5 or 5/5.
Sabina said the tours for high schoolers will continue into December with Pioneer High School welders visiting Ljungstrom. Portville High School’s chemistry and physics students will soon visit SolEpoxy and St. Bonaventure University.
“We also have tours planned with CA-BOCES welding, CNC and Fundamental Building Systems students touring a number of facilities as well as our Girls in Mfg GLEAM club members at Cuba-Rushford visiting Great Lakes Cheese,” she said.
