A team of Bethlehem Middle School Students has taken home first place in this year’s “Best of PA Statewide Awards Event for What’s So Cool About Manufacturing.
Northeast Middle School, which is in the Bethlehem Area School District partnered with Stanley Black & Decker to create a video explaining the work that the manufacturer performs and to help get young people interested in careers in manufacturing.
The fifth annual statewide event was held over the weekend in Harrisburg with 22 student teams competing from throughout the state.
A four-judge panel viewed the 22 entries, representing 11 regional contests across Pennsylvania and a total of 150 student videos, to select the statewide award recipients.
Second Place went to Boyertown Middle School West in Boyertown Area School District in Berks County, which worked on a video featuring R.M. Palmer Company.
Third Place went to Conrad Weiser Middle School in Berks County, which worked with John F. Martin & Sons, LLC.
There was also a Viewers Choice Award, which went to Butler Area Team 2 in Butler County. Its video featured JSP International. It was recognized for garnering the largest number of regional vote totals across the state, during three days of online voting where all Pennsylvania teams competed.
“The continued success of the What’s So Cool program validates its effort to generate excitement toward manufacturing career pathways and promote STEM and CTE education statewide and nationwide,” said Karen Buck, director of workforce initiatives for the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC). “We are so excited and proud to celebrate the Best of PA 2023 student teams and highlight their videos!”
The “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” Student Video Contest, which originated in the Lehigh Valley and is the brainchild of MRC, has garnered over 4 million combined votes by the public during regional online voting dates since its inception in 2013
More than 60% of the school districts in Pennsylvania have participated in the program.
The 2023 participating regional contests in Pennsylvania included 150 middle school teams from Bedford County, Berks Schuylkill, Central Susquehanna, Chester Delaware, Lehigh Valley, North Central, Northern Tier, Philadelphia Region, Pittsburgh Central, Pittsburgh East, and South Central.