District 228 Celebrates Manufacturing Day

Students from Bremen High School District 228 which includes Bremen, Tinley Park, Hillcrest, and Oak Forest high schools recently celebrated Manufacturing Day with other students from across the Southland. Additional schools that participated include Shepard High School, Reavis High School, and Crete Monee High School.

This is an especially important day as manufacturers seek to fill four million high-skill, high-tech, and high-paying jobs over the next decade.

According to the Manufacturing Institute, "Manufacturing Day empowers manufacturers to come together to address their collective challenges so they can help their communities and future generations thrive."

Manufacturers certainly came together in the Southland.

Students participated in two days of virtual learning opportunities provided by the Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation (CSEDC) and Opportunity Advancement Innovation (OAI) on October 5th and October 6th. The event, sponsored by Governors State University and the Illinois Innovations Network (iiN), included four sessions, 45 minutes each, from IMI Norgen (formerly Bimba), Panduit, Whiting, and Amazon.

During these sessions, students heard from manufacturing professionals and learned about the different manufacturing careers available to them, skillsets required, daily logistics, and hiring/application tips.

Nearly all of the businesses, all located in the Southland, explained that they are currently looking for new employees and are actively hiring high school-aged students.

Many students were surprised to hear that starting wages are around $16 - $18 which is well above minimum wage.

Students were also surprised to see the breadth of manufacturing careers available to them. They were able to hear from a large variety of employees with different career pathways. For example, a machinist, plant manager, marketing manager, and human resources specialist are just a few of the many employees they heard from.

During the sessions, each company gave an overview of their company, presented a custom video with various employees sharing information about their workday and backgrounds, and left time for questions and answers.

As a result of the virtual Manufacturing Day experience, students walked away knowing more about the modern manufacturing careers available to them.