Manufacturing Day a Success at Butler

Butler Community College and El Dorado Chamber sponsored their 2nd Annual Manufacturing Day Celebration for Butler County on Oct. 3 in celebration of National Manufacturing Day. This is an annual event during which North American manufacturers open their doors to showcase the potential of modern manufacturing and foster interest in manufacturing careers.

On Butler County’s Manufacturing Day, students from area high schools toured Butler’s welding and automotive departments and learned firsthand how to earn these job-ready skills. Mears Fertilizer of El Dorado, ConFAB of El Dorado, Sherwin-Williams of Andover, UTLX The Tank Car People of El Dorado, Dustrol of Towanda, Rusty Eck Ford and Scholfield Honda of Wichita provided information to more than 100 students about the benefits of working in manufacturing.

“This is very positive for the students of Butler County,” said Lisa Walker of Mears Fertilizer. “It’s great to let the students know what businesses are available for employment.”

Students from Andover eCademy, Bluestem, Circle, Douglas, El Dorado and Rose Hill high schools attended this event. Many juniors and seniors were deciding what careers they would be going into.

“I learned things I didn’t know,” said Jacob Valentine, 17, a senior at Bluestem High School. “I didn’t realize all the options out there.”

They were going to go to college to learn a trade.

“It is nice to get a view of what it would be like to take classes here,” said Adam Kimball, 16, a student at El Dorado High School.

Adam hopes to attend Butler’s Automotive Collision program in two years. He enjoyed watching the demonstrations. Joshua Cousins, 17, a senior at El Dorado High School, plans to attend the Automotive Technology program at Butler next year. He’s taken tours of several other schools and is excited about Butler’s program.

“In my eyes, Butler is the best for mechanics,” Joshua said.

Other students enjoyed speaking with the Butler County industry representatives. Sarah Guthrei, 17, a student at Circle High School wants to major in engineering technology and eventually work with plastics. She thought the representatives shared helpful advice.

“They brought in a lot of good information,” Sarah said. “They had a lot of good work opportunities.”

Butler’s partners for this event include the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce, El Dorado Inc. and the Andover Chamber of Commerce.

Founded by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) in 2012, MFG DAY has enjoyed support from many organizations central to its mission of positively changing the public perception of modern manufacturing. Other organizations that played a leading role in coordinating this national celebration of all things manufacturing include the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). In 2017, the National Association of Manufacturers assumed the primary leadership function for the production of MFG DAY. For more information, visit: www.mfgday.com.