Student tours of Kane County companies aim to mold next generation of manufacturing leaders
Molding the next generation of workforce leaders in manufacturing was the goal of a recent effort that brought high school students from several Kane County districts into local businesses for a ground-floor view of what they do and what jobs they provide.
The Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System 110 brought almost 600 high school students from St. Charles Unit District 303, Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300, Central Unit District 301 and Elgin Area School District U-46 to 24 local manufacturers who opened their doors to show them job opportunities available.
Organizers cited the impact on manufacturing as skilled baby boomers and Generation X employees retire, saying this will create job opportunities for young people.
Northern Kane County Region 110 partnered with the Alignment Collaborative for Education, St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce and its Industrial Committee, Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Chicago Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.
“We are grateful to our local businesses for giving students a firsthand look at modern manufacturing and building excitement for our competitive summer internship program,” Region 110 Work-Based Learning Specialist Todd Stirn said.
Participating companies included Advanced Compressor Technology, AFC Materials, AJR Filtration, Bucher Hydraulics, Camcraft, Clarke Mosquito Control, Custom Aluminum Products, ECHO Power Equipment, Elgin Sweeper Company, Flender, General Kinematics, Genesis Automation, Harting, Hoffer Plastics, ITW Shakeproof, Lakeview Precision Machining, Middleby Marshall, Mazak, McCormick FONA, Pactiv Evergreen, Richardson Electronics and Sauber Manufacturing.
Engineering students from St. Charles North High School who toured Clarke in St. Charles learned from young employees about the company’s involvement in helping stop the spread of diseases like West Nile virus by fighting the mosquitoes that carry them. Students got insight into the company insectary, where mosquitoes are bred for testing to develop safe methods of control.
Biologist Tommy Pemrick shared how he got started with Clarke as a seasonal intern while still at St. Charles East High School, earning college credit, tour organizers said.
Clarke was founded in a family garage in 1946 with one truck, according to the company’s website, which touts its environmentally friendly methods and sustainability efforts.
Human Resources Manager Sue Stout said Clarke is entirely off the grid, generating its electricity from solar power. It also provides several EV chargers and bikes for employees, and its campus is planted with prairie grass.
At Genesis Automation, St. Charles East High students saw how automation improves manufacturing and how robots are used.
Young leaders at Genesis, including Colin Oleniczak, Veronica Tempestini and Elijah Wilkinson, shared their experiences, including attending community college their first two years of post-high school education, where they were exposed to manufacturing. They also gave tips for the college years, like not shying away from the most challenging professors.
“This opened the students’ eyes to career paths available in manufacturing. They found it super valuable and had a lot of questions,” St. Charles East engineering teacher Anthony Cerqua said. “Several students told me they’d like to get internships.”
Genesis Automation Vice President of Operations Gino Rigatano praised the students, teachers and said the tour “was a wonderful way to get the next generation involved.”