Stanly County celebrated National Manufacturing Day with the Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB) and NCWorks team on September 30 and October 1 of this year with events held at the Agri-Civic Center in Albemarle. Students from four Stanly County high schools had the opportunity to tour local companies and the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Center at Stanly Community College. The tours included FiberOn in New London, Norwood Manufacturing in Norwood and Eudy’s Cabinet Manufacturing in Stanfield. Karen Brown and Telena Gooch, coordinators with Stanly County Schools, assisted by directing the students to different locations.
The students learned about advanced manufacturing courses available at Stanly Community College such as heavy equipment operation, CNC machining, HVAC, automotive, biomedical equipment and welding. The tour’s facilitators at Stanly Community College included Devin Baucom, Associate Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing, Marcus Pryor, Dean of Students at Stanly Community College and Vice-Chair of the Centralina WDB NextGen Council, and Tammi McIlwaine, Associate Vice President School of Transfer and Business.
Students met for lunch at the Agri-Civic Center where the food was provided by the Stanly County Economic Development Commission (EDC). Candice Lowder, Stanly County EDC Director and Centralina WDB member, and Anna Clayton, Stanly County EDC Economic Development Specialist, were recognized for their contributions during the luncheons, which also featured keynote speakers Centralina WDB NEXTGEN Specialist Solomon McAuley on September 30 and Bill Baldwin from Stanly County Equal Housing Authority on October 1.
Centralina WDB NextGen Services Leader Monica Gramling, NextGen Career Development Consultant Stashia Robinson, Centralina WDB Communications Coordinator Vaquacious Lundy and NCWorks Career Center-Stanly Center Leader Gus Vanegas assisted with the students and logistics at the Agri-Civic Center. “More events like this are needed to promote opportunities in Stanly County,” said Gus Vanegas. “Providing this information to students in Stanly County will allow them to take more mature decisions about their future.”
The initial planning for Stanly County Manufacturing Day event began in August and ended with the last event on October 1. The partners involved with planning the event included Stanly Community College, Stanly County Economic Development, Stanly County Schools, Centralina WDB the Centralina NCWorks Career Center in Stanly County. Meetings were held in person and virtually. High school students and other career seekers in Stanly County had another opportunity to participate in Manufacturing Day events via Centralina WDB’s regional Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace event on October 1, coordinated by Centralina WDB Business Services Leader Anna Lu Wilson.
The partners would like to thank Amanda Melton, Stanly County Schools Director of Career Technical Education and Sandie Brundin, Stanly County Schools CTE Curriculum Instructional Management Coordinator, for their work in preparing and coordinating student and school schedules. Centralina Workforce Development Board is proud of its NCWorks Career Centers and the great work done by leadership and staff with the NCWorks Career Center in Stanly County. Partnerships like these help build a better workforce for our communities.
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