From last year’s box-office success, Hidden Figures, to the recent unveiling of the Women of NASA Lego® figures, girls are finding more encouragement to pursue STEM careers. Recently, Mazak had the opportunity to help inspire approximately 150 female students from local schools to learn more about manufacturing by opening our factory doors as a featured host of this year’s “Making it Real–Girls & Manufacturing” Program.
This event is one of our favorite of the year and took place at our Mazak North American headquarters in Florence, Kentucky. Organized by Dream It Do It OKI and I Made It in NKY, these events provide middle and high school students and educators an opportunity to learn about today’s manufacturing workplace directly from women business leaders.
Students who joined us for the day participated in a variety of activities. These included tours of our Mazak iSMART Factory™ to show the students and educators what a 21st Century manufacturing facility looks like. Throughout the tour, we highlighted the many different opportunities on the shop floor and discussed the skills needed to be successful in manufacturing careers.
Students also participated in a hands-on activity and a panel discussion comprised of several women business leaders including Laura Lyons, president and CEO of ATech Manufacturing. Other panelists include Marueen Esmont, a metallurgist with Nucor; Emily Blackburn a chemical engineer with Celenease; Liz Reeves, a quality engineer for Fuji Autotech USA LLC; Laurn Mountford and Samantha North, both apprentices at Mubea; and Donna Penny from Mazak.
These leaders shared how they got their starts, their roles and responsibilities and even gave a little advice to the students about how to prepare to make a career choice.
We believe participating in this type of event is very important, which is why we have been a host for two years in a row. Developing a pipeline of skilled workers for manufacturing is critical as it’s estimated that over the next decade nearly 3.5 million people will be needed to fill manufacturing jobs. We are always encouraged by the interest from so many bright young women who may help fill that need and appreciate the opportunity to showcase how modern manufacturing offers an avenue for them to pursue fulfilling and lucrative careers.
See local news coverage of the event here.