SIUE East St. Louis Center Students Learn About Manufacturing and Craft Careers
The challenge is educating youth and their parents about the high pay that comes with the 1,500 manufacturing jobs in Southwestern Illinois in the next five years, and connecting them to the right resources to ensure their success, according to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center Executive Director Jesse Dixon.
The SIUE East St. Louis Center hosted a Manufacturing/Craft Day Experience for youth, ages 2-18, on Monday, July 18. The theme was “Manufacture Your Future/Craft Your Future – A Career that Pays in Southwestern Illinois.”
“Today is the first step in bringing all the partners together for the purpose of raising awareness and hopefully inspiring youth and adults to go into these careers,” Dixon added, “which will benefit them, their families, our communities and the region.”
The Center partnered with the Mid America Workforce Investment Board (MAWIB), Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, Southern Illinois Construction Advancement Program (SICAP) Southern Illinois Builders Association (SIBA) and Scott Air Force Base 375th Communications Group to provide a morning of various interactive events including reading about construction careers to SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start children and engaging SIUE Project Success and Upward Bound students with informational booths and classroom discussions about manufacturing. The morning ended with an on-site viewing of an Ameren utility truck and St. Clair County utility trucks.
“This event and partnership will influence the next generation workforce with knowledge regarding well-paying jobs right here in Southwestern Illinois,” said Ronda Sauget, executive director of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois. “We have a significant workforce shortage in the skilled manufacturing and craft sector. We are here today to plant the seeds for tomorrow and encourage the students to consider careers in these growing fields.”
“Young people see projects going on around them, and they don’t know how quite to get involved,” said Mark Kern, St. Clair County board chairman. “That’s why we are here to let them know you can get a good paying job, raise a family and get a good pension from jobs in manufacturing and the trades.”
“Manufacturing jobs in Madison and St. Clair counties offer average earnings that top $80,000 a year, which is well above the national average,” said Don Vichitvongsa, general manager of SunCoke Energy in Granite City. “Careers in the trades also come with a high wage, averaging almost $33 per hour plus benefits of $22 per hour for a total of $55 an hour.
“The top 50 manufacturers in Southwestern Illinois account for approximately 16,000 jobs, while smaller manufacturers employ many more,” said Vichitvongsa. “Thousands of people retiring in the coming years will create a wave of openings that will be hard to fill unless more people open their minds to the prospect of a future in manufacturing or the many trades that support our manufacturers. Many of the available jobs can be obtained with a high school diploma or equivalent, along with on-the-job training, while others require various certifications that can be earned in two years or less.”
The Manufacturing/Craft Day Experience was an opportunity to present young people with a different “menu of career options,” said Col. Terrence Adams, commander of the 375th Communications Group at Scott Air Force Base.
“A lot of kids don’t know what’s on the menu as it relates to jobs,” said Adams, an Upward Bound alumnus from Tuskegee University. “We are providing them with information that they may not normally know about and let them pick careers according to their appetites.
“We are also ready to provide guidance and mentorship to help direct them to the right people and resources.”
“I didn’t know that the Air Force had so many jobs that you could work in,” said Thomas DeWalt, SIUE Upward Bound student from Cahokia High School. “I’m going to look into it. The program today really expanded my knowledge on available jobs and careers.”
Photos:
Listening to information about jobs in welding are (left to right): Allen Williams, Liz Happold (of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois), Serenity Wallace-Herron, Julio Vallejo, Dionna Samuel, William Foster and Gary Eversmann (instructor).
SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start student Kyliee Lumpford.
