Becky Killian has joined the Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. team in a part-time role to support the activities of JCIDC and the Workforce Partnership.
A former journalist, Becky worked for nearly 30 years as a freelance writer, reporter and editor. She worked for newspapers, including The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne and The Times-Tribune in her hometown of Corbin, Kentucky. Most recently, she covered city and county government for The Salem Leader.
Becky received her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. She moved to northwest Jackson County in 2015. She currently serves as president of the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana, the Indiana affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women. She also is the membership chairperson for the Muscatatuck Wildlife Society, the nonprofit group that supports Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.
When not working, Becky reads (and sometimes writes) genre fiction and enjoys spending time outdoors.
Nearly 600 eighth graders from nine Jackson County schools visited the event throughout the day Dec. 5 in the gymnasiums at Seymour Middle School.
The Reality Fair is a simulation of an adult’s financial life that allows youth to experience making financial decisions and managing money. They can experience what it is like to manage an account at a financial institution, make money-related decisions, obtain a loan, manage debt and more. For the youth, a Reality Fair can be an eye-opening, exciting and fun way to build financial knowledge and skills.
In each gym, after receiving a binder with one of 18 occupations and a worksheet, the students visited 12 booths. Those included credit card, transportation, housing Part 1, housing Part 2, sharing and charitable giving, pets, children, household spending, health care, cellphone, bank and the unexpected.
At each booth, one or two community members helped guide the students as they made decisions. We would like to thank the 64 people who helped. They are:
Jackson County United Way: Emily Engelking, Stephanie Strothmann, Liz Copeland, Michelle Kleber
Mandy Rohdert Esthetics: Mandy Rohdert
Old National Bank: Amber Schrader, Zenda Brooks
Pet Supplies Plus: Tammy Barker, Tina Hacker, Yesenia Otero
Royalty Roofing: Jared Clark
Schneck Medical Center: Heidi Wheatley, Lizzie Vogel, Brandon Sunbury, Skylar Earley, Jena Hanks, Jenna Thomas, Amy Hatton, Adam Jablonski
Seymour Community School Corp.: Marykate Helmsing
The Peoples Bank: Farrah Richey, Will Spray
The Point: Kelli Robinson
Toyota Material Handling: Matt Gilbert
Vincennes University: Brian Sawyers
Community members: Lois Bukowski, Terrye Davidson, Mary Carlson, Lori McDonald, Dave Thompson, Kathy Sage, Susan Jablonski, Melanie Pumphrey
Thanks to all of the students who participated and took this seriously, and hopefully, it was a fun learning experience. Thanks also to all of the schools for attending. They were Brownstown Central Middle School, Crothersville Junior-Senior High School, Immanuel Lutheran School, Lutheran Central School, Medora Junior-Senior High School, St. Ambrose Catholic School, St. John’s Sauers Lutheran School, Sandy Creek Christian Academy and Seymour Middle School. Special thanks to Seymour Middle School for allowing us to host this important event there.
Sixty-three business professionals helped JCIDC with the annual senior mock interviews at Seymour High School.
Conducted the week of Oct. 27 to 31, 289 students participated in a one-on-one interview with someone who works in the career field of their interest after high school.
JCIDC would like to give a big thanks to SHS for allowing us to help coordinate this annual program, and thanks to the students who signed up and participated and all of the business professionals who took time out of their schedules to help with this effort.
In the spring, JCIDC will be coordinating mock interviews for Crothersville, Medora and Trinity Lutheran high schools and Sandy Creek Christian Academy.
Here’s who interviewed at SHS this year:
Amanda Dick, Sara Bowling, Cassandra Collins, Christy Foster, Rita Hollen, Lonnie McCool, Erin Rayburn, Lesley Kendall, Jamie Napier, Holly Wischmeier, Fayeann Hauer and Heidi Wheatley with Schneck Medical Center
Katie Leitzman, Wendy Nicholson, Marykate Helmsing, Curt Schleibaum, Bethany Brewster, Mika Ahlbrand and Kyle Coates with Seymour Community School Corp.
Nate Bryant with Jackson County Emergency Medical Services
Drew Royalty with Crane Hill Machine & Fabrication Inc.
Srivathsa Kumar and Tara Sutherland with Cummins Inc.
Dan Wright with Gonzalez Companies LLC
Kevin Bell with Kevin Bell Photography
Missy Casner with Purdue Polytechnic Institute Columbus
Brittany Snowden with Ivory & Lace Weddings
Brandy Hampton with Ava Presley
Shaun Kendall with 3 to 1 Video
Timothy Chadwick with the U.S. Marine Corps
Nic Wilson with Wilson Auto Body
Jill Glover with Schneider Nursery
Dan Robison with the Jackson County Chamber
Brandy Hunnicutt with BK Media Solutions
Emily Reynolds with Lutheran Community Home
Nate Otte with Dr. Nate Optometrist
Arin Hupp with Goecker Construction Inc.
Amy Birk with Seymour Animal Hospital
Jake Florine and Kim Florine with Nehrwess USA
Brooke Trinkle with Rose Acre Farms
Denise Connell with Lorenzo, Bevers, Braman & Connell LLP
Derik Nierman with Jackson County REMC
Darren McKinney and Joey Perry with Duke Energy
Todd Prewitt and Rusty Warlick with the FBI
Stephen Wheeles with the Indiana State Police
Blake Everhart with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division
Marnie Dirks with AISIN USA Mfg. Inc.
Karen Dringenburg and Debbie Herbert with Blue & Co.
Paige Pontrich with Designs by Paige
Chealsy Parr with Our Hospice of South Central Indiana
Susan Raisor with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Colin Smith with Freeman Municipal Airport
Larry Bothe with Freeman Army Airfield Museum
Holly Coates with Dr. Tammy Hiester-Stout DDS
Brittany Percival with Bee Mortgage App
Ashley Foster, Rylee Harris and Brittany Clark with Brush & Blush Beauty Bar
From automotive parts to diesel engines to bicycles, Jackson County companies manufacture a variety of products.
There also are distribution centers that handle pet supplies and other general merchandise for national retailers.
Each year in October, local companies come together to help JCIDC celebrate MFG Day. Held on the first Friday in October with events continuing throughout the month and beyond, MFG Day — Manufacturing 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.
MFG Day is an initiative of the Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. The event empowers manufacturers to come together and address their collective challenges and build excitement about manufacturing careers to help their communities and future generations thrive.
Jackson County’s event Oct. 10 started at Cummins Seymour Engine Plant, where more than 100 students from Brownstown Central, Crothersville, Medora and Seymour high schools gathered for workshops in the morning.
During the welcome, Darren Kimmel, plant manager for the Seymour Engine Plant, thanked AISIN USA Mfg. Inc., Guardian Bikes and Pet Supplies Plus Distribution Center for joining Cummins in celebrating MFG Day and showing off manufacturing within Jackson County.
He introduced a special guest, Jenny Bush, president of Cummins Power Systems Business, to share a few words.
“Hopefully, you guys are going to get a view into the world today that you don’t see very often,” she told the students. “Today, I think you’ll see some pretty cool technology. You’ll maybe get some things that you’re familiar with, so anybody that’s into trucks or cars or anything automotive, you’ll maybe get to see some stuff that you understand but in a much bigger scale.”
The hope is for the students to begin thinking about their own careers, Bush said.
“I started my career on the floor at Cummins, and so as a result, you can grow through companies like ours in many different ways,” she said. “Manufacturing isn’t just being on the tools and on the floor.”
There also are positions in human resources, finance, materials, engineering and other spaces, Bush said.
“Where you can get involved, bring your ideas and actually bring those to things that go to market that we sell to our customers on a daily basis,” she said.
Bush said she was super excited to be with the students and encouraged them to ask questions so they could learn.
“Please be curious, please ask questions and please enjoy yourselves as much as possible,” Bush said.
Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson echoed Bush’s comments about exploring the variety of careers in manufacturing, which makes up about a third of the jobs in Jackson County.
“It is a great opportunity to realize that it is not just being on the floor, not just turning wrenches,” he said. “There’s a chance to be in finance. There’s design work that goes on. There’s so much that goes into manufacturing. This is a great chance for you to get to experience all of it, to see the technology that is out there, which is absolutely fascinating.”
During the morning workshops, AISIN presented on budgeting, interview tips and resume practices and had Jackson County graduate Austin Frady talk about how he has worked his way up the ranks with the company.
Guardian Bikes and Cummins talked about career pathways and had Jackson County graduates Jamie Durham, James McNeely and Chad Gray speak on their journeys with their company.
Pet Supplies Plus focused on career development and had employee Derrick Broshears share his experience as a Jackson County graduate pursuing a career after high school and moving up the ladder at the distribution center.
In the afternoon, the students visited one of the four participating companies for lunch, a tour and activities.
The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation provides educators with competition, education and workforce readiness programs to increase student engagement in science, technology, engineering, math and computer science.
The organization offers Girl Powered Workshops to engage and inform young women about STEM and robotics opportunities available to them. Teachers, coaches, event partners and mentors are invited to host any time in October their own Girl Powered Workshop to honor International Day of the Girl.
A day before that annual observance, the second Jackson County Girl Powered Workshop was conducted Oct. 10 at Seymour Middle School.
Nearly 30 middle and high school girls from Jackson County attended the event. Seymour Middle School, Seymour High School, Trinity Lutheran High School, St. Ambrose Catholic School, Jackson County 4-H and Jackson County Homeschool were represented.
They were joined by eight female employees of AISIN USA Mfg. Inc., Valeo and Cummins Inc., who spoke about their various roles, from engineering to information technology, at their companies and helped the girls as they participated in a variety of activities.
In one room, they assembled pink Lego cars. In another room, they rotated between stations where they had a ramp speed race, built a tower with dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows, built a bridge with toothpicks and rubber bands, participated in a Lego build challenge without instructions and did a speed build of a Lego skid steer.
The event was organized by Amy Jo Miller Kuzel and Jamie Baker, who are among the Seymour Community School Corp. robotics coaches.
“We are proud to be one of the hundreds of Girl Powered Workshops that take place around the world in the month of October coinciding with the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11,” Baker said.
She said RECF and VEX Robotics are working to redefine the face of STEM and make robotics reflective of the diverse world we live in and the one we want to leave behind.
“Girl Powered Workshops are meant to … connect young women with mentors, highlight examples of how women are changing the world, provide tools for success and offer an environment where all students’ confidence and abilities can grow,” Baker said.
Big thanks to Walmart Supercenter in Seymour for awarding JCIDC a $1,000 grant to be used for supplies for this workshop.
