What’s So Cool About Manufacturing Lehigh Valley begins ninth year

As the weather gets cooler, so does manufacturing for middle school students in the Greater Lehigh Valley. 

The Manufacturers Resource Center has now begun its ninth year of the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing Program. 

In the Lehigh Valley, 28 student teams from Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton county middle schools are partnering with 28 area manufacturers to produce videos that highlight their operations, with the theme of “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing.” 

The goal is to get young people interested in manufacturing and other STEM-based careers, which need skilled labor. 

The program, now held in counties throughout the state, originated in the Lehigh Valley. After winners are selected in each county, they will compete in a statewide competition in the spring. 

Participating manufacturers include such employers as Lutron, Mack Trucks, ATAS International, Ocean Spray, Orbel Corp. Tyber Medical and Stanley Black & Decker. 

“Building awareness for manufacturing careers has been our goal, by continuing to pair students and local manufacturers to work together with combined enthusiasm,” said Karen Buck, manager of workforce initiatives at MRC. “The benefits from the program for both students and manufacturers are limitless. Manufacturers get to offer students a rare behind-the-scenes perspective into well-paying careers in manufacturing. Students experience what it would be like to one day work for a cool, modern manufacturer. Younger generations are encouraged to become excited about STEM and CTE education and later, to possibly explore opportunities in manufacturing.” 

Over the next several months teams of seventh and eighth graders will meet with the manufacturers to learn about their operations and create videos explaining what they do. The videos will posted to the website, whatssocool.org, and will be open to the public for voting February 23-25 for the Viewers’ Choice Award.  

The Lehigh Valley Awards Event is scheduled for March 1 at SteelStacks in Bethlehem. 

Videos created through the yearly regional contests have been compiled as an educational resource for anyone who is curious about manufacturing in Pennsylvania.  

The What’s So Cool About Manufacturing video library was created in 2020. It was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and contains almost 900 manufacturing videos.