High school students gearing up to enter the workforce after graduation were told to find their ikigai, or reason for being.
Keynote speaker Kevin Fleming, author of “Redefining the Goal,” told a room of students, educators and industry leaders that youth, no matter their pathways, should seek out fulfilling work.
“I believe the future of education is for every student to find both relevant and purposeful experience, and you’re doing it today,” he said at the inaugural North Valley Manufacturing Summit last week at Stanislaus State.
Close to 500 people gathered to learn from the region’s manufacturing employers, including high school students and educators from Stanislaus County and surrounding areas.
Prospective employers came from Modesto-based wine and spirits giant Gallo, and as far as the Sierra Nevada foothills to broaden students’ ideas of what quality careers look like and what the current workforce is seeking.
The summit was funded by Stanislaus County’s COVID relief, or ARPA funds, similar to the ones hosted by BEAM Circular, but with an emphasis on existing workforces.
Many students, including 17-year-old Ceres High School senior Isabella Sabala said this was her first experience with anything industry-related.
When she thinks about economic growth in the Valley, she worries about potential data centers encroaching on dairy and agricultural industries in the area.
“I was opposed to (data centers), which made me more interested in getting into all of the stuff that would be better for our economy, agricultural wise,” Sabala said. Local dairy farmers and biological engineers working together caught her attention at the summit.
Rita Menezes, director of secondary education at Ceres Unified School District said Sabala and her classmates at the event are part of their high school’s Manufacturing Production and Green Technology (MPGT) Academy.
In its pilot year, Menezes said, the small cohort of students have designed and created a self-sustaining operation where they create 3D-printed products that they hope to transform into a student-run manufacturing enterprise.
The MPGT Academy, Gallo, and others were among some 35 groups that showcased hands-on technology throughout the day. Panelists offered hiring advice, resume workshops, training programs, funding opportunities and more. Students were encouraged to ask questions of industry leaders in between sessions with engagement activities and competitions.
Stan State President Britt Rios-Ellis hoped students heard her and Fleming’s message about picking their future careers.
“I don’t want our students to have ‘just a job,’ ever,” she said. “I want them to have the careers that they need to help them live longer, happier, healthier, and more engaged lives.”
The Manufacturing Council of Stanislaus County, county Workforce Development, Stanislaus Partners in Education (SPIE) and Stanislaus 2030 have been preparing for the manufacturing summit long before they heard the most recent news of local industry plants shutting down.
Since 2000, Stanislaus County has lost more than 20,000 local manufacturing jobs. Earlier this year Del Monte fruit cannery closed its Modesto plant due to bankruptcy, which resulted in some 1,800 layoffs. While Gallo continues to operate several arms of its business, it also laid off 66 employees in its local G3 manufacturing plant earlier this summer.
The summit was intended to help people understand how much current manufacturing is changing and the pace that it’s changing at, said Jessica Godden, executive director of SPIE.
“So while you may not think, for instance, that working in a tomato cannery or making Almond Breeze, or something like that, is high tech. In fact, today it’s very high tech and it’s continuing on that journey to be more and more advanced,” she said.
Vivienne Aguilar is a reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at vivienne@themodestofocus.org.