Voting set to open in manufacturing video contest

Voting will open Wednesday for the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” Lehigh Valley 2020 student video contest.

Now in its seventh year, the contest gives middle school students from 31 schools in Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties the opportunity to team with local manufacturers to document their experiences in educational videos. The teams share their visual stories across their school districts, and throughout their communities, to garner votes in order to compete for the coveted Viewers Choice Award.

Voting can be done online through Friday at www.whatsocool.org/contests/lehigh-valley, where all of the videos can also be viewed.

There are 10 other award categories reviewed by a panel of judges. Winners from 16 Pennsylvania contests are then chosen to represent their region in a statewide competition on April 29 in Harrisburg.

The contest was created by Manufacturers Resource Center in the Lehigh Valley in 2013 and has since expanded to 16 regional contests across Pennsylvania, and its format has been adopted by groups in 14 other states for the 2019-20 school year.

“The continued growth of this contest really reflects the tremendous efforts MRC, its partners eMediaWorks, EmpowerStar Marketing and Sahl Communications Inc., and the teachers and students have put forth in the community in its first seven seasons,” said Rich Hobbs, President and CEO at MRC.

Locally, the Penn-Kidder Campus in Jim Thorpe was paired with Technical Process & Engineering Inc., Lawrence B. Morris School in Jim Thorpe with KME, Northern Lehigh Middle School with Lutron Electronics Inc., Lehighton Area Middle School with Hydra-Tech, Northwestern Lehigh with JSB Windkits LLC and Palmerton Area Middle School with Ampal Inc.

Carbon Career and Technical Institute students will participate in a cupcake competition, according to event organizers.

“The contest encourages students to explore and get excited about cool manufacturing careers and to produce profiles of companies throughout Pennsylvania,” the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development said in a press release. “Teams of students and their teacher coaches receive camera equipment and professional guidance as they learn to script, record and edit their video stories.”

Original funding for “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” was furnished by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

Local schools have fared well in the competition in the past. In 2019, Lawrence B. Morris students won the outstanding career pathway award for their work with Heritage Sign and Display. One year prior, Palmerton worked with KME tied with a Bethlehem school for outstanding educational value.

“The workforce data speaks for itself,” said Nancy Dischinat, Executive Director Workforce Board Lehigh Valley. “Manufacturing is the second-largest demand industry in the Lehigh Valley, employing nearly 11 percent of our workforce and growing. It demands our attention in the form of career pathways and raising awareness to increase the talent pipeline that feeds this critical sector in the Lehigh Valley.”

The awards show will be broadcast live on WFMZ-TV and WFMZ.com on Feb. 25 from 7-8 p.m.