Naugatuck Valley Community College hosted 250 local high school students for the Manufacture Your Future Student Expo on Friday, May 8 in Technology Hall. Coordinated by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s (CBIA) Education Foundation, the event introduced students to local manufacturers, demonstrated the exciting high-tech careers available in manufacturing and brought students together to participate in hands-on workshops at the College’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center.

NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. welcomed the students to campus. “I hope you get a chance to experience the campus itself, which is organized to support students in many ways,” she said. “Life in college is about finding yourself and exploring yourself.”

“There are amazing things happening if you have the skill sets in computer science, in technology, in engineering, and in math,” said U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty (CT-5), who wore a bracelet created by high school students on a 3D printer. “They’re talking about printing organs—replacement organs for people… If you have the skills that they’re talking about here today, those are the jobs that are open.”

In the workshops, students explored electronics through the electrical circuit design process, built their own MagLev train, were introduced to cyber-manufacturing and learned about 3D printing and scanning.

“A lot of the equipment that’s being used now requires computer skills that, ironically, might build on gaming,” said Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch, director of the College of Technology and executive director of the Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing at the Board of Regents for Higher Education. “There’s that whole spatial idea of being able to design on a computer and then applying it towards the production of a product. It’s very high-skilled and exciting.”

“We are trying to increase the pipeline of young people going into manufacturing careers,” says Mary deManby, program manager at CBIA’s Education Foundation. She says small manufacturers across Connecticut have a dire need for skilled workers as baby boomers retire. “We feel the message is not getting out, that there are a lot of interesting, important careers available in manufacturing for young people.”

Students from Henry Abbott Technical High School, Danbury High School, Brookfield High School, W.F. Kaynor Technical High School, Waterbury Career Academy, Pomperaug High School, Crosby High School and Kennedy High School participated in the event.

Manufacture Your Future is sponsored by the Connecticut College of Technology’s Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, through funding from the National Science Foundation.