Girls discover new career paths at manufacturing camp

A pair of students show off their welded creations at the recent Tinker-Belles manufacturing camp at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Editor’s Note: The Fabricators and Manufacturers Association’s foundation, Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs (NBT), supports summer camps that aim to introduce young people to the skills and tools normally associated with manufacturing careers to spark an interest that they might not have realized existed. To provide an idea of what’s happening at some of these summer camps, The Fabricator sent out its editors to take a closer look.

If the students attending the Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Tinker-Belles manufacturing camp discovered anything this summer, it’s that the world of factories and fabrication offers a lot more options to women than they ever would have guessed.

Many of the campers at Penn College’s Williamsport, Pa., campus traveled several hours to spend a week away from home to learn about metal cutting, robotics, electrical discharge machining, chemistry, and even plastic injection molding at a nearby West Pharmaceuticals plant. In addition, students tried their hand at CAD modeling and even welded and cut their own metal sculptures.

One student was Bhavi, 14, who aspires to be a mechanical engineer. She traveled three hours to spend a week in a dorm room at Penn College with her friend, Chelsea, who she recruited to come along.

“My favorite thing honestly was … where we cut metal,” Bhavi said. “There’s a lot of cool machines. I want to design things—I like designing and looking on CAD and making mechanical drawings.”

Chelsea said she’s interested in all things STEM, but mostly in the sciences, especially chemistry. The options in manufacturing that are open to women caught her attention.

“If feel like even though it’s mostly men, women can still do it,” Chelsea said. “It’s equal, of course. It doesn’t really matter.”

Those possibilities are what professors like Adam Barilla want to accentuate with events like the Tinker-Belles camp.

“I think it’s really exciting to see students who are interested in science and math and engineering,” said Barilla, a plastics and polymer technology professor who’s been teaching at Penn College for the past seven years. “I was an engineer for about 10 years, solving problems and come up with an idea and then seeing it in real life, making an actual product.

“That’s what excited me about engineering, and I love to share that with young folks—especially people who aren’t usually represented in these different industries, making sure we have representation for men and women and people from all different backgrounds.”

Girls attending the Tinker-Belles camp learned about welding, robotics, computer-aided design, and even injection plastic molding.

On top of fostering respect for the manufacturing industry and building community goodwill, a big reason to host the camps is to generate excitement for sectors that are desperate for new professionals, according to Dr. Kathy Chesmel, PhD, assistant dean of material science and engineering technologies at PCT. For example, Penn College’s welding program, with its 135 students, is cranking at full capacity while other programs and the industries they serve are looking for people.

“Welding is oversubscribed,” said Chesmel, who was a mechanical engineer before moving to Penn College. “So, we are moving to potentially doing some things to make the program more selective. That weld shop is buzzing. We can’t physically do any more. So, we did start a nondestructive testing program so some of the kids that maybe can’t get into welding will come to nondestructive testing.

“I know some of the kids in manufacturing are interested in nondestructive testing and they can take those classes,” Chesmel added. “So, we’re expanding where we can within the space that we have, but the camps help us do that, because right now this week there’s a nondestructive testing camp for kids and … for teachers. Most people don’t know what NDT is, but the industry is dying for people. And they’re great jobs.”

For students like Bhavi, just seeing the possibilities made it worth the trip.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” she said. “There’s a lot of variety. Even if you have a degree in something chemistry-related, like Chelsea said, you can still work in the trades and stuff like that.”