North country high school students learn about manufacturing

Oct. 15—WATERTOWN — Five years ago, Logan Nichols was a Sackets Harbor High School student when he participated in a tour of MetalCraft Marine US as part of Manufacturing Day.

Now 20, Mr. Nichols is a specialized welder/fitter building custom boats for the U.S. Coast Guard at MetalCraft, a Kingston, Ontario-based company that has manufacturing operations in Watertown and Cape Vincent.

On Friday, a group of about 15 Lyme High School students came through the Fisher Road facility in the Jefferson County Corporate Park during a tour for this year's North Country Manufacturing Day.

It's an annual event in which manufacturing companies volunteer to showcase their operations and discuss the industry with students.

Back when he was in high school, he never imagined that he'd be working at MetalCraft.

"I took welding at BOCES and now I'm here," he said Friday while working in the hull of a Cutter Boat Large as the group of Lyme students came through.

More than 1,000 students from 25 school districts in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis counties participated in this year's tours to learn about the north country's manufacturing world.

Students from Hammond and Copenhagen toured the production floor at New York Air Brake in Watertown. Lowville students went to the Kraft Heinz facility in Lewis County, and Alcoa in St. Lawrence County hosted students from the Colton-Pierrepont and St. Lawrence school districts.

Through the tours, students get to find out about career opportunities that area companies offer after they graduate from high school.

As for the companies, getting students involved in the trade skills increases the north country's talent pool, said David J. Zembiec, CEO of Jefferson County Economic Development.

"Some students are not necessarily right for college and the trade skills provide them with job opportunities," Mr. Zembiec said.

The 15 Lyme students are all members of Adrienne E. Teachout's engineering class. They took tours at both MetalCraft and EZStak, which has a facility in the town of Hounsfield.

At MetalCraft, the group learned about how the company manufactures custom boats for the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy.

With a labor force of 25 workers, the company employs welders, engineers, electricians, mechanics and pilots who get to test the custom boats in the sea.

They are involved in the many facets of the metal fabrication process to make the high-performance custom boats that reach speeds of 50 knots.

Jessica Middlestate, a Lyme 11th grader, learned about computer coating, a process that uses computer electronics components to cut a sheet of metal instead of doing it by hand.

Using that process, she watched Kyle Copeland bend and cut a circular piece of metal, while his co-workers were busy nearby, getting some welding completed.

"They showed us in real life what they do for a job," she said.

Eliza VanDerwalker, 16, another Lyme junior, came away with an interest in manufacturing after the tour at EZStak.

"It made me want to do the job," she said.

When he was at Sackets Harbor, Mr. Nichols took welding at the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services for two years after his grandfather got him interested in the skill.

"Fate has a funny way," he said about now working for a company that he learned about from Manufacturing Day.

There's been other students who participated in Manufacturing Day, became interested in a trade skill and then ended up working at a company that they toured, Mr. Zembiec said.

That's the whole idea of Manufacturing Day — growing the talent pool, especially now when manufacturers are having a difficult finding workers during a national labor shortage, he said.

The Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency, CITEC Business Solutions, the Jefferson County Department of Employment and Training at the WorkPlace, Lewis County Economic Development, Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES and other organizations coordinated tours with all of the manufacturing companies and contacted school districts to garner interest.