The student team from Whitehall-Coplay Middle School topped an online poll of more than 123,000 votes to win the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest’s first Viewers Choice Award.
Created by the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) in Allentown, PA, the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest excites students to explore manufacturing careers and produce profiles of companies in Lehigh and Northampton counties. 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. PBS39 Lehigh Valley furnished extensive technical support for each team. Judges bestowed a variety of awards and fans voted online for its Viewers Choice Award. The contest’s objective is to change students’ perceptions about manufacturing careers.
Funds to develop the contest were provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development’s “Discovered in PA, Developed in PA” program for a project called Lehigh Valley Skill-Up.
“The What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? contest gives participating students unique opportunities to see advanced manufacturing as a career option, observe companies in the industry and community, and translate what they thought was cool to their peers,” said Karen Buck, Project Manager for the MRC.
Each of the contest’s 17 teams from Lehigh and Northampton counties were honored at the contest’s awards ceremony Thursday evening at the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. Whitehall-Coplay received the Viewers Choice Award for its profile of Atlas Machining & Welding. Northeast Middle School in the Bethlehem Area School District earned the judges’ Outstanding Program Award for overall excellence with its profile of Gardner Cryogenics, Air Products and Chemicals.
Additional contest awards include the following:
- Outstanding Editing: Easton Area Middle School for its profile of Follett Corporation
- Outstanding Videography: Whitehall-Coplay Middle School for its video on Atlas Machining & Welding
- Outstanding Creativity: Parkland School District team for its profile of CyOptics
- Outstanding Educational Value: Northampton Area Middle School for its profile of Bitronics
- Outstanding Team Spirit: East Penn School District team for its profile of Lehigh Valley Bat Works
- Outstanding Cool: Northern Lehigh Middle School for its profile of Effort Foundry
Contest support also was provided by the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (LCTI); the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board (LVWIB); the Da Vinci Science Center; the Career Institute of Technology (CIT); and the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School (BAVTS).
Production and equipment funds also were furnished by Air Products and Chemicals; Concannon, Miller & Co. Certified Public Accountants; Embassy Bank for the Lehigh Valley; Hampson Mowrer Kreitz Agency; King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul LLC; National Penn Bancshares, Inc.; Northampton Community College; and PPL Electric Utilities.
Additional contest sponsors include Adams Outdoor Advertising; AmericaVen; Best Buy Stores; Sahl Communications; Just Born Quality Confections; and Nestlé Waters North America.
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