Molding the next generation of workforce leaders in manufacturing was the goal of a recent effort that brought local high school students into local businesses for a ground-floor view of what they do and what jobs they provide.

The Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System 110 brought almost 600 high school students from St. Charles School District 303, Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300, Central Unit District 301 and Elgin Area District U-46 to 24 area manufacturers who opened their doors to show them job opportunities available.

Organizers cited the impact on manufacturing as skilled Baby Boomers and Generation X employees retire, saying this will create job opportunities for young people, but they need to be aware of those opportunities.

Northern Kane County Region 110 partnered with the Alignment Collaborative for Education, St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce and its Industrial Committee, Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Chicago Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (GCAMP).

Participating companies included Advanced Compressor Technology, AFC Materials, AJR Filtration, Bucher Hydraulics, Camcraft, Clarke Mosquito Control, Custom Aluminum Products, ECHO Power Equipment, Elgin Sweeper Company, Flender, General Kinematics, Genesis Automation, Harting, Hoffer Plastics, ITW Shakeproof, Lakeview Precision Machining, Middleby Marshall, Mazak, McCormick FONA, Pactiv Evergreen, Richardson Electronics and Sauber Manufacturing.

Engineering students from St. Charles North High School who toured Clarke in St. Charles learned from young employees about the company’s involvement in helping to stop the spread of diseases like West Nile virus by fighting the mosquitoes that carry them. Students got insight into the company insectary, where mosquitoes are bred for testing for safe methods of control.

Among those students met on the tour was biologist Tommy Pemrick, who shared how he got started with Clarke as a seasonal intern while still at St. Charles East High School, earning college credit, according to a news release from tour organizers.

Clarke was founded in a family garage in 1946 with one truck, according to the company’s website, which touts its environmentally friendly methods and sustainability efforts. Human Resources Manager Sue Stout said in the release that Clarke is entirely off the grid, generating its electricity from solar power. It also provides several EV chargers and bikes for employees and its campus is planted with prairie grass.

At Genesis Automation, St. Charles East High students saw how automation improves manufacturing and saw how robots are used.

Young leaders at Genesis, including Colin Oleniczak, Veronica Tempestini and Elijah Wilkinson shared advice from their experiences in the working world, the release said. That included, in their cases, attending community college their first two years of post-high school education, where they were exposes to manufacturing. They also gave tips for the college years, like not shying away from professors who are ranked as most challenging.

“This opened the students’ eyes to career paths available in manufacturing. They found it super valuable and had a lot of questions,” St. Charles East engineering teacher Anthony Cerqua said in the release. “Several students told me they’d like to get internships.”

Genesis Automation Vice President of Operations Gino Rigatano praised the students, teachers and tour and said: “This was a wonderful way to get the next generation involved.”

Said Region 110 Work-Based Learning Specialist Todd Stirn: “We are grateful to our local businesses are giving students a firsthand look at modern manufacturing and building excitement for our competitive summer internship program.”