Stanly County Celebrates National Manufacturing Day

Stanly County successfully celebrated National Manufacturing Day on September 30 and October 1, 2021 with events held at the Agri-Civic Center in Albemarle. And the team from the Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB) and NCWorks-Centralina were ready and willing to participate! 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 companies toured by the students this year were 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 were 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. Candice Lowder, Stanly County EDC Director and Centralina WDB member and Anna Clayton, Stanly County EDC Economic Development Specialist were recognized for their contributions. The keynote speaker on September 30 was Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB) NEXTGEN Specialist Solomon McAuley and on October 1, it was Bill Baldwin from Stanly County Equal Housing Authority.

Centralina WDB NextGen Services Leader Monica Gramling Stashia Robinson, NextGen Career Development Consultant with NEXTGEN, Centralina WDB Communications Coordinator Vaquacious Lundy, and NCWorks Career Center-Stanly Center Leader Gus Vanegas assisted with the students and the logistics at the Agri-Civic Center location.

"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".

In addition, a regional Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace event specially focused on manufacturing was held on October 1. The event was coordinated by Anna Lu Wilson, Centralina WDB Business Services Leader, and was promoted to high school students and as well as career seekers in Stanly County.

The initial planning for Stanly County Manufacturing Day event started in August 2021 and ended with the last event on October 1. The partners involved with planning the event were Stanly Community College, Stanly County Economic Development, Stanly County Schools, Centralina WDB, NCWorks-Centralina, and the NCWorks Career Center-Stanly. Meetings were held both in-person and virtual.

All the partners would like to specially 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 in order for great participation from the youth.

To learn more about NCWorks-Centralina career services and events, visit https://centralinaworkforce.com/.

The Centralina Workforce Development Board is proud of all our local NCWorks Career Centers and especially the great work by the leadership and staff with the NCWorks Career Center-Stanly. The great partnerships they have established in Stanly County really do make a difference in building a better workforce for our communities. Be sure to download the FREE Centralina WDB Mobile App – available on the Google Play Store and the App Store for iPhone to keep up with all the local workforce services and events happening around the region.

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