A young man learns about circuit boards at the 8th Annual Community Career+Education Forum held at Endress+Hauser in Greenwood, Indiana, March 17, 2022. Gary Brockman/For the Daily Journal
Gauges, dials and sensors blipped and pulsed under the watchful eye of young area scientists Thursday night.
Small groups of students and parents clustered around the massive Process Training Unit, a two-story structure set up inside Endress+Hauser’s Greenwood facility. Most days, the unit allows workers to become familiar with different measurements, such as pressure and flow, critical to the manufacturing they do.
But during Endress+Hauser’s annual Community Career+Education Forum, students had a chance to see the real-world applications of the science they’re interested in.
“I’m not really sure what career path I want to go into when I’m older, so I want to see what different options are,” said Tyler Johnson, an eighth grader at Center Grove Middle School Central with an interest in mathematics.
The forum was back Thursday night, as more than 500 middle school students and their parents filled into Endress+Hauser’s Greenwood facility for a celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
They spoke with local manufacturers about career opportunities, learning about degree programs at local colleges and taking part in hands-on demonstrations of robotics, 3-D printing and cutting-edge diesel engines, among other displays.
Pandemic-related precautions forced the annual event to be virtual-only in 2020, and led organizers to postpone the event last fall. The event is a meaningful one for Endress+Hauser employees, and they hope the return to an in-person forum makes for a special evening for everyone involved.
“It brings together all of the elements of future careers,” said Nicole Otte, director of workforce development and human resources for Endress+Hauser. “All of us, collectively, can put together an awareness of STEM, trades and manufacturing. We’re hoping to change mindsets about those things.”
Community Career+Education Forum was designed to showcase the wide range of potential careers, education and recreation revolving around STEM. The event was founded in 2014 as a way to help schools, students and their families learn what skills employers are looking for in their workers, as well as see the diverse types of careers available in advanced manufacturing.
Endress+Hauser partnered with Central Nine Career Center and Aspire Johnson County to create the career forum, which has grown into a key way to foster interest in science and technology in the county. Organizers added grants for area educators as well, to encourage innovative STEM opportunities in county classrooms.
“We knew that when we initiated it, it would be a long play. It’s not something that’s going to provide return right away on that investment, but we are seeing return,” Otte said. “We have apprentices that were at the very first CCEF who are now employees. Students who we meet at career fairs were at the forums. It has created that awareness.”
That made the past two years difficult. Organizers transitioned to a virtual forum in 2020, which at least allowed students and parents to connect to different representatives from the STEM world. Still, it did not have the same feel, she said.
They had hoped to return to a full in-person event in the fall of 2021, but during the planning process, COVID-19 cases started spiking again.
“It didn’t seem like it was something we should do at that point, but we still wanted to give away our grants, and still wanted to have our robotics test we had,” Otte said. “We were able to do those pieces, but couldn’t have mass amounts of people in. So we postponed.”
Even pushing the forum back to right before spring break, Endress+Hauser has still signed up between 500 and 600 students, she said.
“We’re excited to have multiple community partners, community organizations and schools, engaged again,” Otte said. “We’re excited to have a live event again.”
Energy bubbled through the event, as excited students in grades six through nine led their parents from activity to activity. Attendees could test their knowledge in a live-action quiz competition, “Are You Smarter Than an Engineer?”
A 3-D printing booth provided real-time demonstrations of the technology. Students could sit down at a “welding simulator,” using a specialized computer program to practice the basics of welding a seam.
Jack Thompson and Joe Rhynearson, both eighth-graders at Greenwood Community Middle School, were waiting in line to try their hands at it.
“There’s a lot of cool stuff to learn about here, and it can give you new ideas to future things that you might want to do,” Rhynearson said.
“I want to pursue a job with engineering or programming when I get older, and I was told this was a good place for that, to learn more about that stuff,” Thompson added.
Endress+Hauser organizers had also invited a variety of community partners to set up booths educating attendees about educational programs and job opportunities in local industry. Companies such as NSK and Nachi gave out small tokens while talking with students about how STEM plays a role in their everyday work.
Milwaukee Tool, which opened its service hub in Greenwood in 2021, showed students how to use some of the tools they manufacture.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Franklin College and Ivy Tech Community College were among the schools present to give information about STEM-related majors and offerings. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office offered insight on how science and technology play a role in law enforcement.
Robotics teams from Center Grove, Greenwood and Southport schools demonstrated their most recent creations and how they operated.
For Kate Lidy and Natalie Shaver, both students at Center Grove Middle School Central and part of the Center Grove Robotics program, the forum was a chance to talk about one of their passions with other students.
“I remember the only reason I got into robotics was because I had come to a robotics meeting and they shared that stuff with me. Now I get to do that to other kids,” Lidy said.
Despite the different schools competing against one another throughout the year, they were all bonded together by their shared love of robotics and interest in STEM, Shaver said.
“It’s really interesting and fun to see all the people working together, even though they’re competing against each other,” she said. “It’s a really fun experience to see how technology has advanced so far.”
