Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Dennis Davin recognized Wednesday the students, teachers, and manufacturers that participated in the 2020 “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” (WSCM) video contest in Berks and Schuylkill counties.
WSCM is a career awareness program executed through a series of 16 annual, regional video contests in which middle school student teams across the state are matched with manufacturing businesses in their communities. The teams are then tasked with creating video profiles of their assigned businesses, which include product highlights, staff interviews, and showcase what it would be like to work for the company. The student teams and teacher coaches are sent camera equipment, software, and professional guidance through the program as they learn to script, record, and edit their video stories.
The program goal is to shift the image of manufacturing and career technical education opportunities in Pennsylvania by highlighting the potential for good-paying, stable jobs. It mirrors the commonwealth’s Manufacturing PA initiative, launched in October 2017, which promotes the strengthening of Pennsylvania’s workforce through its Training-to-Career program.
“As someone who travels the state to discuss manufacturing and meet Pennsylvania’s diverse workforce supporting it, it is beyond impressive to see what these students can create and the impact that WSCM contestants’ videos have on educating and informing their peers about this industry,” Davin said. “Local manufacturing companies collaborating to welcome students into their facilities really allows a younger generation to show us through their eyes—what is the appeal? How could this work for me? They easily show us how and why manufacturing is cool.”
The WSCM contest in those counties is produced by the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) in Allentown, Pa., which created the contest in 2013. WSCM video contests are held throughout the state and contest format has been adopted by more than a dozen other states.
“When MRC originated the program seven years ago, we could not have imagined how successful it would become,” MRC President and CEO Rich Hobbs said. “With 16 regional WSCM contests in 2020 and our third annual WSCM Statewide Awards, it truly has become the signature program to raise awareness of manufacturing opportunities across the commonwealth.”