Nov. 27—TRAVERSE CITY — As one who builds race cars, Gannon Dougherty has an aptitude and knowledge of machining.

When Clark Manufacturing Chief Financial Officer Mike Novik pulled out a caliper, the Benzie Central senior knew not only its use in measuring the dimensions of an object, but had used one before.

At several times during a tour of the Traverse City manufacturing facility Tuesday morning, Dougherty was shaking his head as Novik explained a tool or a process.

All Dougherty needed was a chance to learn more about opportunities available in the region and the first of three Manufacturing and Machining Talent Tours provided it.

"It's a fun trip," Dougherty said before leaving Clark Manufacturing for a tour of the Northwestern Michigan College manufacturing lab a short distance away at the Parsons-Stulen Building. "I'm glad they gave us the opportunity to come here and check it out.

"It's definitely a great opportunity."

A pilot program from MiSTEM Network, the purpose of Tuesday's morning and afternoon tours was to provide a chance for juniors and seniors from area schools, most who were not a part of the Career-Tech Center at Northwest Education Services to see some of the manufacturing facilities in the region.

"It's strengthening the talent pipeline from schools to manufacturing," said Shelly VanderMeulen, the MiSTEM Network Career Exploration Specialist for the seven-country region. MiSTEM Network services are supported by a grant from the Michigan Department of Education.

Even for someone like Dougherty, seeing the scale of Clark Manufacturing was eye-opening.

"It's honestly completely different from a lot of the stuff that I do," he said. "My stuff is all 'normal,' the stuff that I hold with my hands.

"I don't get metal quite that big. My stuff doesn't weight 2,000 pounds and up. It's more like 100 to 150 pounds."

More than two dozen students from Benzie Central, Benzie Academy, Frankfort, Kingsley, Traverse City Central and Traverse City Christian took part in visiting two places on Tuesday. There were morning and afternoon sessions.

"We're excited to have 25 students to start with," said VanderMeulen, who plans to repeat the tours at different facilities two more times before the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Students rode the normal Career-Tech Center buses from their respective schools into Traverse City, but visited Clark and the NMC lab after the CTC students were dropped off at the Parsons Road facility.

"We're tying to build more of those kinds of opportunities," VanderMeulen said. "Career-Tech Center kids tend to get exposed to a lot more of the businesses over the course of their programs."

"We're trying to provide opportunities for kids outside of high school," said Benzie Academy counselor Rebecca Kik, who chaperoned nine Benzie Central and Academy students Tuesday morning. "Opportunities they don't even know are out there."

While Traverse City manufacturing facilities like Clark regularly welcome students on tours, the emphasis on older students is something organizers and businesses did intentionally. Previous events like Manufacturing Day are geared mostly toward eighth grade students while MiCareerQuest targets mostly freshmen.

"Maybe they're a little more interested in the future," Novik said.

"We're trying to help students to extend that connection between an earlier interest and possible careers," VanderMuelen said. "This is a way to get them more interested and to have more information."

Novik said the age of the students also fits well at Clark. Novik said Clark had summer interns from Michigan Technological and Ferris State universities as well as three from high school.

"Every summer we have four or five students, whether high school or college, here," Novik said. "Sometimes they stay on, sometimes they move on to other engineering careers. But it's all a good experience."

Established in 1975, Clark Manufacturing has had 'Now hiring' signs around its 2485 Aero-Park Drive property for most of the year. Clark built its current facility in 2018 and currently has 103 employees, Novik said.

Novik said the company "that can make pretty much anything" still has room for more.

"It's ongoing," he said. "There are always people coming and going.

"We could hire four easily. Like tomorrow."

Clark Manufacturing started and ended its Tuesday tour in its conference room. On the table between the cookies and the candy for the students were several stainless steel valves for natural gas compressors. Several of these came with blueprints for the design of the different valves.

Among the Clark T-shirts and hats was a folder containing additional information about the manufacturer and a job application. It's one that Dougherty said he may fill out.

Several other students also seemed to be weighing the possibility. One of those was Benzie Central junior Jordan Bird, who knew one of the Clark Manufacturing employees.

"The benefits are great," Bird said. "I already asked them."