Education & Training

Design Squad Challenge 2011

On March 19th, 2011, ten teams of middle school students participated in the second annual Edward P. Campbell Design Squad Challenge at IdeaStream at Playhouse Square. The challenge is modeled after the popular PBS Show, Design Squad.

The “Purple Smurfs” from Olmsted Falls Middle School took first place (see: Olmsted Falls Middle School students win Design Squad competition, by Jenny McKeigue, WestLife, March 28, 2011)..

Four MAGNET manufacturing ambassadors, Juan Milian from Talan Products, Chris Evans and Tony Martino from Plastipak and Don Urig from Nordson volunteered their time and expertise and served as judges for the competition.

“I most definitely had a great experience as a judge for the Design Squad Competition," said Urig. "I would like to return as a judge again next year. To be around such enthusiastic young people is energizing in itself. Then you mix in the element of friendly competition, and you cannot help but have fun."

More information about the competition available here.

AWT and Lakeland sponsor regional Battling RoboBots Competition

Mentor, Ohio—March 2011—The Alliance for Working Together (AWT) of Lake County is sponsoring the first annual Regional Battling RoboBots Competition on April 30th at the Lakeland Community College Athletic Center.

The AWT is a group of more than 100 manufacturers who came together a few years ago to address the lack of skilled and qualified workers in manufacturing. They joined with Lakeland Community College and Auburn Career Center to create a career pathway for students interested in the field. Together, manufacturers and educators designed a curriculum that would address the needs of employers today and in the future. In addition, they are also working together to improve the image of manufacturing among young people, which is where the battling RoboBot competition came in.

Find out more about the upcoming RoboBot competition and how it is helping attract young people to careers in manufacturing.

Max Hayes’ TEAM ACADEMY and local employers team up

On February 16, eight employers from six companies in the area met with 25 seniors from Max Hayes’ TEAM (Technology, Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing) Academy to participate in mock interviews. Max Hayes High School is the only school in the Cleveland Municipal School District that teaches the technical skills of advanced manufacturing and is a standout according to Crain’s Cleveland Business as it manages to grow its student body through an offering of hands-on career training alongside traditional high-school coursework.

Find out which companies participated and why they found it such a valuable experience.

Manufacturing Ambassador Newsletter—Find out what's happening in workforce development and manufacturing training in Northern Ohio with MAGNET's quarterly newsletter from the Education & Training team.

News Spotlight

New Tech High School primes students for the workplace, by Michelle Kanu, WCPN IdeaStream, June 30, 2011
Cleveland—Located on Cleveland’s west side in the basement of Garrett Morgan high school, New Tech is one of Cleveland’s “new and innovative” schools created under former CEO Eugene Sanders. Students take traditional high school courses, but special emphasis is placed on using technology and preparing to enter the workforce.

Despite unemployment numbers, manufacturers say its tough to find workers, by Mhari Saito, WCPN IdeaStream, June 28, 2011
Cleveland—Ohio has lost nearly 350,000 manufacturing jobs over the past decade, yet area companies still complain that they struggle to find good hires for their plants. ideastream's Mhari Saito reports.

Obama offers training plan designed for high-tech jobs, by Helene Cooper, New York Times, June 13, 2011
Durham, N.C.—President Obama convened a session of his new jobs council on Monday, offering a proposal to train 10,000 American engineering students a year in a program focused on filling high-tech jobs.

• President Obama pushes job creation at N.C. forum, by Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, June 13, 2011
• Obama expands training for manufacturing, Youngstown Business Journal, June 9, 2011
• Obama promotes job training as economic imperative, AP via Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 8, 2011
• NAM official welcomes Obama administration endorsement of Skills Certification System, NAM Press Release, June 8, 2011

Engineers in short supply as some sectors try to hire, by Dana Mattioli, Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2011 (Subscription)
New York—The number of jobless people in the U.S. looking for work rose to nearly 13.9 million in May, yet companies in the manufacturing and service sectors both reported increased difficulty hiring.

Report: In terms of lifetime earnings, majors in science and engineering earn 50% more than liberal arts, Washington Post, May 23, 2011
Washington—Over a lifetime, the earnings of workers who have majored in engineering, computer science or business are as much as 50 percent higher than the earnings of those who major in the humanities, the arts, education and psychology, according to an analysis by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. Download the complete report here.

Recent research publications on manufacturing training & education in the U.S.

After a successful debut year, MAGNET again participated in the Northern Ohio Technology Association (NOTA’s) distance learning program. Six companies from the region volunteered their time and showed their commitment to Northeast Ohio by engaging students from across the state about opportunities in advanced manufacturing. Approximately 1,000 students heard from Timken, Rockwell Automation, Shearer’s Foods, DayGlo, Syncro Medical Innovations and MTD Products. Streaming video of the shows can be viewed at.

Episodes from the series are available now as streaming video.

Education & Training Events Calendar