Polywood Academy introduces students to advanced manufacturing
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Northern Indiana high school students can try on advanced manufacturing as a career thanks to a new multi-school program and partnership with Syracuse-based Polywood.
The Polywood Academy will be a two-year program where students will receive technical training and the opportunity to complete a paid internship. The collaboration will both introduce students to the reality of a career in advanced manufacturing while building general career skills.
The first cohort will launch next school year and include around eight to 10 kids. Jon Everingham, CTE Director at the Wawasee Area Career & Technical Cooperative, says they hope to grow the program each year.
Everingham talks about the need for advanced manufacturing career training and how the Polywood academy came to life.
The academy is being offered through the Pathways CTE Cooperative, a coordinated effort between five schools in Whitley County Consolidated Schools, Wawasee Community Schools and Fairfield Community Schools. Through the expanded career center, students can participate in 15 career and technical education programs, which include welding and health science education in addition to the new Polywood Academy.
Pathways uses half-day programs, meaning they do their other required classes in one chunk which opens them up to spend the other half doing technical training.
The Polywood program will focus on industrial maintenance. Juniors in the programs will take courses like “Principles of Advanced Manufacturing” and “Industrial Electrical Fundamentals.” Seniors will complete their capstone experience by interning at Polywood.
The outdoor furniture manufacturer has two production facilities, including one in Syracuse. Polywood “lumber” is made from recycled and reusable plastics, and furniture can be recycled again after its lifetime.
The company was ranked in the top 10 of the “Best Places to Work in Manufacturing” by the Indiana Chamber late last year.
Advanced manufacturing is a growing sector throughout the state and already needs more skilled workers. Reflecting on what their CTE programming was missing, Everingham said they realized that was a gap they needed to fill.
“There’s a sense of urgency from industry because they need workers,” he said. “The Polywood Academy is just a creative way to teach industrial maintenance and advanced manufacturing.”
State investment in CTE programs has also helped tremendously, Everingham said. The Pathways CTE Cooperative has grown from 120 participating students ten years ago to just under 400 this year.
At this point, Everingham said he and their staff have “been on tour” promoting the new program and getting kids interested in advanced manufacturing.
“We’re trying to educate not just students, but the community and parents on exactly what sort of careers that you could go into in manufacturing,” he said.
Kids often sway toward traditional careers and don’t fully understand what advanced manufacturing actually entails, he said. There’s a preconceived notion that those jobs are in hot, dingy plants doing repetitive tasks, but he noted really it involves robotics, engineering and business management.
The program also assists in career exploration in both help students realize what like and what they don’t, since both answers get them closer to knowing what they will find a career in.
“One of the most powerful ways to get kids to really understand is to go on tours, to get into these manufacturing plants and have them see and feel and hear from people about the career opportunities,” Everingham said.
There’s a stockpile of jobs too in the sector, he said, mentioning the Orthopedics Capital of the World in Warsaw, the RV industry in Elkhart and Goshen, and the furniture manufacturing plant in town.
Looking forward, Everingham said he wants to continue breaking down the stigma that surrounds vocational careers. The narrative was that struggling, low-level students elected to go into those fields, he said; however, all types of students are interested in their programming, and subsequently, those careers.
“The most powerful thing that people can do is go to your local career center, or your high school, and check out what they’re doing in the world of CTE,” he said. “There’s two things that they always say: ‘I had no idea that there were these opportunities for students,’ and then the second thing is, ‘I wish they would have had this when I was in school.'”
The Polywood Academy is being supported by Purdue University’s Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center, or IN-MaC, and OrthoWorx.