Nearly 200 students and 15 chaperones from the six county high schools — Brownstown Central, Crothersville, Medora, Sandy Creek, Seymour and Trinity Lutheran — gathered at Cummins Seymour Engine Plant for a welcome from Plant Manager Darren Kimmel and Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson.
After watching a safety video, the students, divided into four groups, rotated between workshops. Those were Life on a Budget with Brian Terrell from Aisin USA Mfg. Inc.; Communication is Key with Leanne Powell, Allie Hurr and Kellie Marshall from Lannett Co. Inc.; Jackson County Grads with Rachael Hunter from Cummins, Dana Perry from Aisin USA, Gene Ivey from Pet Supplies Plus and Dalton Jackson, Steven Kidd and Leslie Bean from Valeo; and Career Development with Tina Hacker and Yesenia Otero from Pet Supplies Plus.
Then in the afternoon, the students and chaperones visited one of the five participating industries for lunch, a tour and a hands-on activity.
JCIDC organized the event with the help of Cummins SEP, Aisin USA, Lannett, Valeo and Pet Supplies Plus and the six schools.
Celebrated annually on the first Friday in October with events continuing throughout the month and beyond, MFG Day is a national grassroots movement that demonstrates the reality and future of modern manufacturing careers. Thousands of companies and educational institutions nationwide are invited to open their doors to students, parents, educators and community leaders.
The Manufacturing Institute initiative empowers manufacturers to come together and address their collective challenges and build excitement about manufacturing careers to help their communities and future generations thrive.
The inaugural Manufacturing Day in Jackson County was in 2019. Nearly 130 Seymour High School students participated in the event organized by JCIDC that was designed to introduce young people in the community to the manufacturing sector and career opportunities and demonstrate the contributions manufacturing makes to the local economy. Since that first year in Jackson County, the event has expanded to include the other county high schools.
Manufacturing Day, now known as MFG Day, has been observed nationally since 2012 to inspire the next generation of manufacturers.
Students from Brownstown Central, Crothersville, Medora and Seymour high schools are presenting their business ideas in the initial stages of Maverick Challenge Jackson County.
The Maverick Challenge is a high school entrepreneur program aimed at empowering and challenging students to unleash their entrepreneurial potential by developing innovative, creative, resourceful and sustainable business ideas.
The program is a partnership between the JCIDC Workforce Partnership, Jackson County Chamber, Seymour Main Street and Brownstown Ewing Main Street. The idea is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to generate unique and comprehensive business solutions by providing resources, mentorships and community support.
On Sept. 24, Doug Prather, Jaylyn Stam, Philip Roggow and Dan Robison took time out of their day to hear Seymour High School students’ business ideas. On Sept. 25 and 26, other local business professionals will visit the other three schools to meet with students.
The business idea rubrics filled out by the business professionals will be given to the teachers leading the program at each of the schools to share with the students.
In October and November, the students will do classroom work on lean canvas, slide deck and video. Also in October, they will hear from classroom speakers and work on their presentation and video. Also in November, there will be more classroom speakers, the students will work on financials and marketing and they can attend a SPARK/Maverick Challenge Jackson County Combine.
From November to January, after teachers have identified the teams that want to continue with the competition, they will be paired with mentors. Students will be required to meet with their mentors at least three times and will be responsible for ongoing communication with them.
Once the submissions are reviewed in February, the 10 finalists will be announced. They will participate in the oral competition March 5.
On the morning of Sept. 18, Seymour High School seniors participated in senior seminars with faculty from Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus.
Groups of seniors attended three sessions: Professional communication and professionalism, interview preparation and the game of life. It ended in the auditorium with seniors hearing from three SHS graduates who are current Ivy Tech students studying a variety of areas, including nursing, mechanical engineering and business. Upon exiting the auditorium, the students received Ivy Tech swag. They also are now eligible to win a $1,000 scholarship from Ivy Tech.
On Sept. 19, different groups of seniors will rotate between the sessions.
In August, all of the seniors had sessions on career awareness and finding purpose, what employers want by industry and résumé and LinkedIn.
After completing the senior seminars, the seniors will be ready to create their résumé in English class that they will submit for when they participate in the annual senior mock interviews the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
JCIDC partners with SHS for the senior mock interviews, helping pair each student with an interviewer who works in the field in which they are interested.
The quarterly meeting of Jackson County human resources representatives was Sept. 11 at the Jackson County Learning Center in Seymour.
Appropriately, the topic was education.
After learning about service and volunteer opportunities with JCIDC initiatives, the group heard from officials with Vincennes University, Indiana University Columbus, Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Purdue Polytechnic Columbus and Ivy Tech Community College Columbus. They all shared information about the educational programs available on campus, online and in Seymour and the surrounding area.
Finally, JCLC Director Amy Heideman shared offerings by McDowell Education Center, Sylvan and READ Jackson County at the learning center, and attendees toured the industrial maintenance lab.
Representatives of the Maverick Challenge Jackson County high school business planning competition recently visited local high schools to talk to students about the program.
JCIDC Workforce Director Jackie Hill, Jackson County Chamber Director Dan Robison, Seymour Main Street Executive Director Jaylyn Stam and Brownstown Ewing Main Street board member Arann Banks visited Brownstown Central, Crothersville, Medora and Seymour high schools to educate students on the annual competition.
Maverick Challenge began in 2008 in Bartholomew County, and Jackson County joined the program in 2011. Last year, Bartholomew County ended the program, but Jackson County leaders chose to keep it going in the county thanks to a partnership between JCIDC, Jackson County Chamber, Seymour Main Street and Brownstown Ewing Main Street and funding partner JCBank.
In September, students, working individually or with two or more other students, will work on their presentations. Then they will create a 3- to 5-minute video to sell their business idea and hear from classroom speakers, who will talk to them about presentation, video, financials and marketing. From November to January, they will be paired up with a mentor to help them.
The 10 finalists will be announced in mid-February and will give oral presentations March 1 with $7,000 being up for grabs.
New this year, the winner of Maverick Challenge Jackson County will be one of the six finalists in the SPARK Tank competition with the winner receiving $10,000.
The winner and potentially others from the county program also can enter the state’s Innovate WithIN competition, which has a regional competition in the spring and finals in June with the ultimate winner receiving $25,000.
On Aug. 14 and 15, seniors at Seymour High School have been participating in senior seminars with faculty from Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus.
Each day, different groups of seniors have been attending three sessions: Career awareness and finding purpose, what employers want by industry and résumé and LinkedIn.
During the other two sessions Sept. 18 and 19, there will be three different topics.
By that point, the seniors will be ready to create their résumé in English class that they will submit for when they participate in the annual senior mock interviews the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
JCIDC partners with SHS for the senior mock interviews, helping pair each student with an interviewer who works in the field in which they are interested.
