Gateway Camps Message to High School Girls: Manufacturing Careers Allow You to Change the World

Gateway Community & Technical College has a message for high school girls: If you want to love your job, never be bored, make good money and create ways to change the world, consider a career in advanced manufacturing.

To prove that the field is fun, challenging, creative and cool, Gateway is inviting high school girls entering into their junior or senior year to attend an Advanced Manufacturing Career Exploration Camp at the colleges high-tech Florence campus July 28 to Aug. 1. Any interested student may apply.

The camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., gives girls hands-on experience and the opportunity to work in teams to solve problems in an advanced manufacturing environment. They will tour a high-tech, advanced manufacturing facility, participate in training simulations and learn team-building and presentation skills.

Evidence suggests that women value work that contributes to society, and they are more likely to choose careers with a clear social purpose, said Carissa Schutzman, Gateway dean of Workforce Solutions and coordinator of the colleges Raise the Floor initiative that trains women for manufacturing careers.

The camp is intended to show girls they can use their interest in science, technology, engineering and math to make a huge difference in the world by pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing, Schutzman said. High-tech manufacturing affects so much of everyday life from energy and transportation to medicine, recreation, health and communications. Every tangible product we touch is rooted in the manufacturing process.

Raise the Floor is intended to help women and girls understand they can have a cool job in a clean, safe environment, earn good money, and be challenged and appreciated, even as they fulfill their need to serve society, she added.

Capacity is limited, so girls who are interested need to register right away. Contact Michelle Flick, at (859) 815-7687, or michelle.flick@kctcs.edu, for more information. Parents are encouraged to call as well. Camp sessions will take place at Gateway's Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Boone Campus, 500 Technology Way, Florence, Ky.