Vermeer Manufacturing and Elevate Advanced Manufacturing hosted an informational evening for high school students Thursday night at the Career Academy of Pella.
Dozens of families from around the area attended the event that included hands-on demonstrations of the different elements of manufacturing, informational booths with local colleges and businesses, and a presentation that included details about the industry’s wage growth and economic impact on Iowa, as well as the different careers available in the manufacturing field.
Elevate Manufacturing is a non-profit promoting careers and educational pathways in advanced manufacturing. Program Coordinator Alex Monaghan tells KNIA/KRLS News the industry plays a significant role in the state’s economy.
“There are so many opportunities in the state, with over 200,000 job opportunities…with specifically in Marion County with over 6000,” Monaghan says. “It’s so important to educate and share the opportunities available.”
Vermeer Chair Mary Andringa was among those who presented, and she says it was important to not only reach out to the students in attendance, but the rest of their families as well.
“It’s fun to see both parents and with the young people here tonight,” she says. “We really believe that sometimes even parents don’t talk a lot at home about what they’re doing, so a lot of young people maybe don’t even know what manufacturing is all about, so that’s why we’ve loved manufacturing day in the past…and we’ve also loved take your child to work day, where we’ve had a lot of young people come to Vermeer with their parents. But we thought since we couldn’t do the regular manufacturing day at the Pavilion this year, we would just try this, and we were really pleased with the number of people who came out and the interest.”
The event was the first-of-its-kind at the Career Academy of Pella, after the tornado at Vermeer moved operations to the Global Pavilion, where the annual manufacturing day for elementary students was held, but will be postponed until next year.