Career Guide 2023

JCC, ALFRED STATE, GENESEE CC ESTABLISH WNY WORKS INITIATIVE

media, digital advertising, and videos to showcase graduate success stories, the goal is to increase the number of skilled workers in Western New York who are needed to fuel the local economy.

This project has focused on empowering the colleges to generate brand awareness, drive applications and enrollment, and broaden their share of the market for manufacturing.

The colleges have enlisted the expertise of Interact Communications, a leader in student recruitment for two-year degrees, to implement a regional marketing strategy. Advertising has begun on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, Google, Spotify, Pandora, TikTok, and Amazon OTT with the aim of driving traffic to WNYworks.org and connecting Western New Yorkers to a variety of manufacturing career paths.

Three regional State University of New York colleges joined forces to bolster the regional manufacturing industry.

Jamestown Community College, Alfred State College and Genesee Community College established a collaborative marketing initiative called WNY Works in response to the crisis Western New York employers face in finding and hiring skilled manufacturing workers. The goal is to attract more students to study and pursue rewarding manufacturing careers.

“JCC is excited to partner with Alfred State and Genesee Community College in fulfilling the mission of WNY Works,” said Dr. Kirk Young, JCC’s vice president of Student Affairs. “We stay in constant communication with our regional employers’ needs and understand the skills graduates must have to land rewarding jobs. This project continues to power our dedication to training our local workforce and supporting our manufacturers.”

The National Association of Manufacturers estimates that 2.1 million jobs will be open by 2030. Western New

York manufacturers employ more than 60,000 workers who earn an average of $85,474 annually. However, 77 percent report that they cannot find skilled professionals to fill open positions.

In Western New York, annual wages include $60,800 for computer and electronics manufacturing jobs, $79,300 for transportation equipment work, $60,100 for fabricated metal workers, and $60,460 for mechatronics technicians, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. More career options can be viewed at WNYworks.org/advancedmanufacturing.

The three colleges, spread across the Western New York region, offer dozens of certificate and associate degree programs in manufacturing that can help workers retrain and upskill to gain better-paying jobs and a more fulfilling future.

Thanks to a grant from the Wilson Foundation, manufacturing opportunities offered by JCC, Alfred State, and GCC are shared on the recentlylaunched WNYworks.org website. Through the website, brochures, social

JCC OFFERS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GRANT TO COVER TUITION THIS SUMMER

JAMESTOWN — SUNY Jamestown Community College is accepting applications from high school students for the Educational Advancement for Regional Neighbors grant.

The grant will cover the full in-state cost of tuition for one summer course.

EARN is open to students 15 or older who live or attend high school in Cattaraugus, Allegany and Chautauqua counties, and have been a permanent resident of New York state for at least a year. A total of 150 grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We have two summer sessions — May 17 through June 28 and July 5 through August 15 — so students can choose what works best with their schedule,” said Jade Barber, director of high school partnerships. “This is a really popular program, so I encourage students to apply early to make sure

you can secure a spot and get all the necessary steps completed before the start of the term.”

Applications are due May 8 for Summer Session I and June 21 for Summer Session II. In-person classes, online, and hybrid courses are available. Students are responsible for fees and textbook costs, and must have parental consent at the time of application.

Those interested in taking additional summer courses may do so through the Pre-college Enrollment Program, which includes a grant that covers half the cost of tuition, up to $500.

Full eligibility details, the EARN application, and a list of available courses can be found at sunyjcc.edu/ earn. To apply for the Pre-college Enrollment Program grant, visit sunyjcc. edu/pep.

Photo provided

A SUNY JCC student works on a CNC machine.

Short’s Oil Co.

Looking for qualified applicants for the following positions:

Driver – CDL A or B with Hazmat. Will be local driving and home every night.

Service Technician – Looking for a certified HVAC technician. Needs to be comfortable working with both LP and fuel oil equipment. Duties will include furnace installs, tune and cleans, and everyday check up work on customers furnaces and heaters. You will be required to be on call and some weekend work will be required when needed.

Both positions are full time with benefits such as paid vacation, holiday pay, retirement and medical insurance. Compensation will be based on experience. Please call or send resumes to:

Short’s Oil Co.

Attn: Lindsey Wieszczyk

2351 Stannards Rd

Wellsville, NY 14895 (585) 593-1280

shortsoil@shortsoil.com

GIRLS ENCOURAGED TO PURSUE STEM IN ANNUAL MANUFACTURING DAY

By Kellen M. Quigley Special to the Career Guide

OLEAN — Dozens of girls from across the region spent a day at Jamestown Community College learning all about the many STEM career fields that await them after high school.

The fourth annual Eaton Girls in Manufacturing Day welcomed girls from local school districts and their parents or guardians to take part in the event that included guest speakers, workshops, mini classes and a tour of JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus.

Part of the Cattaraugus-Allegany Dream It Do It program, the Girls in Manufacturing program provides girls an empowering place to learn about advanced manufacturing and an opportunity to learn from local industry professionals.

“Our women in manufacturing are great mentors throughout the year, going out to the schools, being present at these events and helping to do this,” said Evelyn Sabina, CA-DIDI executive director, during her welcome in the Cutco Theater. “You are showing the future leaders of our community that we can do it.”

Sitting in the audience were some new and familiar faces, Sabina said, including members of the Girls in Manufacturing Club, the Soapbox Derby, Young Manufacturers Academy and Dream It Do It 2.0.

“Girls in Manufacturing Day is another example of how everyone comes together in Cattaraugus County for a common mission: To encourage our future community leaders to pursue careers in advanced manufacturing,” Sabina told the Times Herald. “JCC, Eaton, women in manufacturing, area manufacturers, teachers, parents and students all came together to celebrate and realize ‘We can do it!’”

THROUGHOUT the year, girls are introduced to professional women in the area who work for manufacturers. Through tours, clubs, presentations,

activities, camps and more, the program is designed to inspire girls 9 to 14 to consider a career in advanced manufacturing.

Jennifer Clarke, Human Resources Manager at Eaton, which sponsors Girls in Manufacturing, said she loves her job, loves her company and loves manufacturing, and wanted to share with the girls in attendance her journey on figuring out what she wanted to do after school.

Clarke, originally from the Milwaukee area, joined Eaton in 2011 as a human resources generalist.

“Take those chances when you have them and learn from all opportunities,” she added. “We’re able to make these opportunities. Things like today, Young Manufacturers Academy, these are experiences you can get to help build toward your career.”

Kathleen Martel, Director of Workforce Development at JCC, is a St. Bonaventure University grad who spent two decades in the engineering department at Dresser-Rand. After helping form what became Dream It Do It, Martel moved into higher education in 2014 where she’s served in JCC’s workforce development department.

Martel said the girls probably don’t know what they want to do for a career,

but they will probably find someone who will inspire them along that journey. She said they will come up against many different choices as they get older, and any of them could be the right path.

“We all have had our struggles along the way as we move through life. Don’t forget to take the time to help the next person coming up,” she said. “Be that person who helps someone else get through life.”

Kelly Gerrity graduated from Archbishop Walsh High School and the University of West Georgia before returning home to work at Great Lakes Cheese in 2016, first as a human resource specialist and now as HR Manager.

In her time at Great Lakes Cheese, Gerrity said the company has continued to expand and is relocating to a new facility in Franklinville. She said they will be doubling their workforce and offering many opportunities for girls in various departments.

“When I joined Great lakes Cheese, there was only one other woman on the management team,” she said. “Just in my short time, women now make up 30 percent of the management team.”

AFTER THE morning of speakers,

the girls in attendance split into three groups and rotated through workshops on robotics, quality control and machining and robotics with local manufacturers.

“It is so great to see other women inspiring future generations,” said Meredith Anderson, mother of one of the participants. “Every year we have attended Girls In Manufacturing and it has opened the young ladies up to new opportunities. Empowering women to be anything they put their heart to!”

The Art of Manufacturing was a hands-on role-playing activity, where the participants could explore how problem-solving skills are regularly utilized in manufacturing by experimenting with paint samples and collecting data. It was hosted by Kaitlyn Penston of SolEpoxy.

In the robot programming activity, the girls were challenged to write a robot program to pick up and move a ping pong ball, hosted by Tim Griffin, Mechanical Technology instructor at JCC. The girls first heard from Bozena Lukomski, Senior Production Manager from Great Lakes Cheese, about how robots are used for various pick and place operations at the local cheese manufacturing plant.

The teams wrote their own pickand-place robot code. As the girls tested their programs the first time and watched the robot moving to the points they had taught it, many were heard saying “That’s so cool!” and “This is fun!”

“We can all agree that this Girls in Manufacturing Day gave us all a nice early start towards future success whether or not we choose to further our future towards manufacturing,” said Jadyn Ours, an 8th grader at Olean High School.

“Eaton continues to support events such as Girls in Manufacturing Day to provide children in our community with experiences to learn about exciting career opportunities in manufacturing,” Sabina said. “I didn’t have a lot of these opportunities at such a young age.”

Photo by Kellen M. Quigley

Area students participate in the annual Girls in Manufacturing Day at Jamestown Community College, presented by Eaton and Cattaraugus-Allegany Dream It Do It.

BRADFORD STUDENTS PARTNER WITH LOCAL COMPANIES

By Mandy Colosimo Special to the Career Guide

Recent growth has been happening rapidly for Parkway Industrials, and much of that can be attributed to partnering with local businesses.

Getting the business up and running has created opportunities for a lot of new student learning, according to Program Coordinator Sean Reams.

“One of the program’s goals is to produce and sell actual parts that manufacturing companies will use in their own products and processes,” he said. “Sales revenue will be used to operate

and expand the program, and some of it will be used to help graduating seniors as they move on to postsecondary education or join the workforce.”

The enterprise that the students are running is not only making parts for companies. From start to finish, every aspect of the project is something for the students to learn and do. The students work from a structured business model that they have created, they make the budget, pay attention to the costs, design not only the project but the marketing and sales elements, they handle customer service and project management, scheduling of the project

and all the parts that go on behind the scenes. While the word ‘manufacturing’ conjures up the floor of the industries, these students are learning all facets of what goes into making the business successful.

Many local businesses have been very supportive, and the new program is developing relationships with more of them as time goes on. The students of the enterprise presented their work and delivered an order of shafts to American Refinery Group (ARG) last week.

Reams said, “Jarrett Machine Company has been a huge help – giving the new program technical advice and occasionally loaning its machine shop tooling for the CNC mills. They even donated some of the aluminum for an early in-house project.”

Several of the manufacturing students have been out to tour and talk to people at Zippo, Case, and ARG. Marketing students have also been able to spend targeted time with people at Protocol 80, a local marketing firm specializing in business-to-business marketing for manufacturing companies.

Most of the program’s students are

fully scheduled with other classes, but there is a dedicated group of students who have been willing to squeeze time into their schedules for the program this year. Teachers in marketing, engineering, business, and machine have also been willing to integrate some of the program’s business operations into their curriculum, and those students’ efforts in those classes have been invaluable. The new manufacturing program will be listed as a class in next year’s registration guide, so more students will have an opportunity to participate in running the business moving forward.

Close Racing Supply, in Eldred, has also been very supportive.

“Students designed and machined control arm parts for them a couple of months ago.” Reams said. “That job turned into a couple more, and Parkway Industrial is wrapping up their most recent job for the company.”

And, the students are getting ready to get started on a job for Zippo. In fact, according to Reams, one of Zippo’s project engineers came into the school

Seen here is Parkway Industrial’s first project in one of the mills.

Wow, check out the closeup of Parkway Industrial’s new Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) as it measures one of the control arm parts they did for Close Racing Supply.

BRADFORD STUDENTS PARTNER WITH LOCAL COMPANIES

to talk about the details of that job about a week ago. And, like the ARG job, that project is going to have the students learning to work with a material different from the ones they have worked with in the past.

Reams added, “This program is creating an opportunity for students

that did not exist before.” Napoleon Engineering Services, in Olean, N.Y., is also interested in the work the students are doing. The students have been invited to tour the company’s manufacturing facilities.

Case and Allegheny Bradford have both expressed an interest in working with Bradford’s students and the new manufacturing program.

The Bradford Area High School is supported in this endeavor by a $200,000 Manufacturing Training to Career grant to launch a manufacturing enterprise to enhance the development of students for manufacturing careers. Some

of the needed components were already in place at the high school: business, engineering, and manufacturing technology.

Skills and experience attained through this collaboration builds trust between the companies looking to hire and the candidates for jobs. This program sets local students up with community contacts, industry experience, and the skills necessary to immediately secure positions with local manufacturers.

As a work-readiness program, students put the coursework they learn into practical use. As this is happening, job

placement and future talent is cultivated in the local community. Students are mentored through collaborative exchange, gathering essential skills and experience far beyond the classroom.

A stack of finished control arm links, completed by Parkway Industrial for Close Racing Supply.

Completed connector shaft for ARG by Parkway Industrial.