editorial E
Relating to the Next Generation
T ‘‘ rying to relate to today’s
high school students is a unique experience—especially when 85 of them are in a room staring at you. T is was my challenge last month
as part of a three-person team asked to give a 1.5-hour presentation at South Tech High School in St. Louis. T e approach of this high school is new to me.
Students from all over St. Louis County come to this school for 2.5 hours of practical instruction (classroom and hands-on) in a variety of professions, including advanced manufacturing, construction, electronics, robotics, energy, aerospace, arts and communication. T is program complements the traditional learning at their high school, replacing the elective credits as part of their education. At my high school, the focus was solely on
Our focus was on opening their eyes to another manufacturing industry as a potential source for jobs.”
traditional four-year college prep with classes like chemistry, physics, western civilization, calculus and English. T e furthest we could stray from the traditional core was typing, art or journalism. While auto and woodshop classes existed at my school, they weren’t promoted as real alternatives. Due to my high school experience (or lack
thereof ), I was excited for the learning opportunity at South Tech, and it did not disappoint. T e team’s presentation centered on introducing metalcasting to students enrolled in machining,
robotics and electronics courses. Our focus was on opening their eyes to another manufacturing industry as a potential source for jobs or, more importantly, as something they might encounter in their future career as a machinist or robotic technician. T e key to our presentation was to utilize our Foundry in a Box, which is a hobbyist metalcasting kit with a special “microwave” for melting tin in a crucible and patterns to make sand molds for starfi sh, chameleons and other trinkets. Wow. To see those kids’ interest ignite when that molten metal was poured was worth the eff ort of the presentation. Now, I was not oblivious to the 20% of the kids who couldn’t have cared less about the “old” guys up in the front of the room. While I would have loved to have connected to every single one of them, reality (and their teachers) says this isn’t possible. (I can’t even connect with my own teenager half the time.) But for the 80% who were interested, we provided a small takeaway that opened their eyes to new opportunities. As manufacturing is beginning to come into vogue in our society as an opportunity for employment for those graduating from 4-year colleges, 2-year technical schools and high schools, these students at South Tech appear to be in the right place at the right time. And, ultimately, this was the most important message these students could hear. Encouraging the next generation to the opportunities in manufacturing will feed the momentum of the U.S. manufacturing rebirth we are hearing about in the media and beginning to experience ourselves.
MEDIA RESOURCE
Using the Actable App, scan this page to watch his video editorial. For instructions on how to use the app, go to page 3.
Alfred Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Metal Casting Design & Purchasing, email me at
aspada@afsinc.org.
May/Jun 2013 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 7
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