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| Cameron Ponchot, an eighth grader at Swain Middle School, works with robotics equipment under the guidance of ConMet’s Mark Little during the inaugural manufacturing and STEM awareness event April 2 at the Swain Regional Business Education and Training Center. |
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| Preston Robinson, an eighth-grader at Swain Middle School, was among more than 200 students who attended the inaugural manufacturing and STEM awareness event April 2 at the Swain Regional Business Education and Training Center. |
From the time he was five years old, Cameron Ponchot knew he wanted to work in the field of science when he grew up.
Earlier this month at the Swain Regional Business Education and Training Center, Ponchot saw the kind of technology that could make it possible for him to pursue his passion and stay in his home county well beyond high school graduation.
An eighth grader at Swain Middle School, Ponchot was one of more than 200 students to check out robotics, computer programming, a 3-D printer and other technology on display during the inaugural manufacturing and STEM awareness event – a part of the NC Manufacturing Awareness Week 2014.
“It’s really neat,” Ponchot said after watching a robotics demonstration put on by Mark Little of ConMet. “I’d like to go to a company like that. I’m really excited that Swain High School is about to get a robotics class.”
Organized by Swain County Schools and SCC, the event featured nearly a dozen exhibits from regional organizations like Google and Duke Energy.
Scott Sutton, SCC’s director of occupational training, was available to discuss the Mechatronics/advanced manufacturing program Southwestern plans to debut this summer in Swain County.
SCC and its partners throughout its service area recently secured more than $1.5 million in advanced manufacturing training grants, which will be used to ensure ConMet and other area manufacturers can train their employees on the latest technology for years to come.
“We’re thrilled that all these young students got a chance to see where manufacturing and technology are headed right here where they live,” said Sonja Haynes, SCC’s dean of workforce innovations. “Events like this showcase what our local businesses and industries are doing, and they allow us to demonstrate how we’re meeting their educational and training needs.”
Regina Gilchrist Ash, who handles STEM Development for Swain County Schools, was pleased with the enthusiasm of students who attended the event.
"When our students get excited about possibilities, see hope for a future, and then can attach relevance from their science, technology and math classes to that future, we are making real progress,” Ash said. “Having an engineer from Google's data center in Lenoir show our kids how they can build a network for almost nothing, or a ConMet engineer demonstrate and then allow hands-on participation with the robotic arm, our students were mesmerized. Special thanks to Ms. Peoples' third graders who were truly great teachers and impressed everyone with demonstrations of their 3-D printer and knowledge of coding (computer programming) on iPads. All of our guests were wonderful with our students, and we truly appreciate their participation."
Preston Robinson, another Swain County eighth-grader, was also impressed by the robotics presentation.
“It was really cool to see how many functions the robot has and to see how many manufacturers use them,” said Robinson, who hopes to someday either go into robotics or multimedia design.
For more information about SCC’s Workforce Innovations programs, contact Sonja Haynes at s_haynes@southwesterncc.edu.
