Northampton Area Middle School repeated as Viewers Choice Award winner in the Lehigh Valley’s What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest Tuesday night and Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem, PA, earned top honors from the contest’s judges.
Created by the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) in Allentown, PA, the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest excites students to explore cool manufacturing careers and produce profiles of companies throughout Pennsylvania. The teams of students and teacher coaches receive camera equipment, software, and professional guidance as they learn to script, record, and edit their video stories. Judges bestow a variety of awards and fans vote online for its Viewers Choice Award. The contest’s objective is to change students’ perceptions about manufacturing careers.
Now in its third year, the contest has become so popular that its format has been adopted in other areas of Pennsylvania. The MRC provides logistical and promotional support and manages online voting for the affiliated contests in the Pittsburgh area and in Chester and Delaware counties.
The third annual Lehigh Valley contest – presented by the MRC, Mack Trucks, and the Lehigh Valley Workforce Development Board – included entries from 30 middle school teams from Lehigh Northampton, Schuylkill, Carbon, and Bucks counties. Production support was furnished by PBS39 Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem. More than 117,000 votes were cast online for the Viewers Choice Award.
An enthusiastic crowd of more than 800 people attended the contest’s awards ceremony at Bethlehem’s ArtsQuest Center. Northampton received the Viewers Choice Award for its profile of Piramal Critical Care and Broughal’s profile of Just Born Quality Confections earned the judges’ Outstanding Program Award for overall excellence. Additional 2016 Lehigh Valley contest awards include the following:
- Outstanding Videography: Northern Lehigh Middle School for its profile of Atlas Machining and Welding
- Outstanding Editing: Schuylkill Haven Middle School for its profile of Cardinal Systems
- Outstanding Creativity: Nazareth Area Middle School for its profile of Martin Guitar
- Outstanding Cool: Eyer Middle School in the East Penn School District for its profile of Smooth-On
- Outstanding Educational Value: (Tie) Nitschmann Middle School in the Bethlehem Area School District for its profile of American Millwork & Cabinetry and Palmerton Area Junior High School for its profile of Blue Ridge Pressure Casting
- Outstanding Team Spirit: Springhouse Middle School in the Parkland School District for its profile of ProtoCAM
- Outstanding Marketing Plan: Tamaqua Area Middle School relating to its profile of Highwood USA
Support for the 2016 Lehigh Valley contest also was provided by the Lehigh Career and Technical School (LCTI); Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School (BAVTS); the Career Institute of Technology (CIT); and the Carbon Career and Technical Institute (CCTI). The contest’s additional sponsors include the following:
Gold Sponsors: Aerotek Staffing Agency; Air Products and Chemicals Inc.; ATAS International, Inc.; B. Braun Medical, Inc.; Bracalente Manufacturing Group; The Equinox Agency; King, Spry, Herman, Freund and Faul, LLC; PNC Bank; PPL Electric Utilities; Sahl Communications; and Talen Energy.
Silver Sponsors: Bitronics; Concannon, Miller & Co.; espi; Follett Corporation; Just Born Quality Confections; Lehigh Carbon Community College; Lutron Electronics Company, Inc.; Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation; Nestlé Waters North America; Northampton Community College; Piramal Critical Care Inc.; ProtoCAM; Provident Bank; Smooth-On, Inc.; and Stanley Vidmar.
Bronze Sponsors: Coca-Cola Bottling Company of the Lehigh Valley; C.F. Martin & Company; Cardinal Systems, Inc.; County of Northampton; Express Employment Professionals; Manufacturing Council; Highwood USA, LLC; HMK Insurance; Ondra-Huyett; TPEI; Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School; Carbon County Chamber and Economic Development; Carbon Career & Technical Institute; Career Institute of Technology; Lehigh Career & Technical Institute; Da Vinci Science Center; GoPro; and Innovation Studios.
Media Sponsors: Lehigh Valley Business; WFMZ-TV; 99.9 The Hawk; WDIY Lehigh Valley Public Radio; Adams Outdoor Advertising, and PBS39 Lehigh Valley
About the Manufacturers Resource Center
The Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) is dedicated to creating jobs and economic opportunity in eastern Pennsylvania’s Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties. MRC is a nonprofit organization partially funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s NIST-MEP program, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
News Story Contact
Karen Buck, Manufacturers Resource Center
Allentown, PA, 610.628.4626