Northampton middle school team takes top award in manufacturing video contest

Listen to this article

The Northampton team earned the Viewers’ Choice Award for its depiction of Effort Foundry in Bath. Nearly 700 students, parents, educators, community sponsors, employers and leaders in the manufacturing field attended the awards ceremony at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.

The contest is part of a national movement known in Pennsylvania as “Dream It, Do It Pa.”

“It is an enormous thrill to see 600-plus people here to celebrate the work of these kids,” said Teri Haddad, vice president of production and education at PBS-39 in Bethlehem, one of the contest’s sponsors. “They learned some transferrable skills. This is a wonderful commitment that business has for education.”

Teams from middle schools in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties took part in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” contest, creating videos that explored the world of manufacturing companies through a youthful lens. The contest serves several functions: introducing students to manufacturing jobs; changing the perceptions of the industry for students and parents; building awareness of job opportunities; and offering students the chance to learn media skills.

Audience members watched segments of each video before the awards were announced.

“The videos this year were very creative,” said Jack Pfunder, president and CEO of Manufacturers Resource Center, a main sponsor of the event. “I think our intent was to supersize the contest.”

For the first contest last year, the organizers had 19 teams from 19 schools, drawing an audience of about 350 to the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown for the awards show, Pfunder said.

This year had 22 teams, 22 coaches and 22 companies – with schools from Carbon County added to the mix. The plan is to make it even bigger next year and possibly include schools from another county.

With online voting open to the public from Feb. 19-21, the contest garnered more than 100,000 votes, with the Northampton team the top vote-getter.

Forty organizations in the community showed their support, and the contest was paid for without any grants, Pfunder said.

“Now, our intent is to do it every year,” he said.

Bill Wydra, president of Ashland Technologies Inc., a manufacturer in Hegins, spoke about the many roles available for people working in the industry and how entrepreneurship is integral to manufacturing.

“I’m blown away by what you have all done with these videos,” Wydra said. “It’s about taking that energy, and you applied it.”

Manufacturing has been a lean, technology based industry for some time, he said.

“Manufacturing is growing and it’s here to stay,” Wydra said.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute in Schnecksville created the awards presented to the winning teams, and organizers noted that each team that participated in the contest will receive a medal.

Vocational and technical education is essential “so you have the skills you need to get this country back on track,” said Nancy Dischinat, executive director of The Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, another main sponsor of the event.

The companies that participated included major manufacturers such as: B. Braun Medical Inc., Just Born Inc., Crayola Inc., C.F. Martin Guitar & Co. Inc. and Lutron Electronics.

PBS will broadcast the winning videos throughout March on Fridays at 3:30 p.m., said Laura McHugh, executive producer of PBS.

Other awards, listed with the winning team and partner company, are:

• Outstanding Program: Southern Lehigh (Crayola, Forks Township).

• Outstanding Editing: Nazareth (ABEC Inc., Hanover Township, Northampton County).

• Outstanding Creativity: Francis D. Raub, Allentown (Stanley Vidmar, Allentown).

• Outstanding Cool!: Northampton (Effort Foundry, Bath).

• Outstanding Team Spirit: Northern Lehigh (Amcor, Upper Macungie Township).

• Outstanding Educational Value: East Penn (Nestlé Waters North America, Upper Macungie Township).

• Outstanding Videography: Bethlehem Northeast (Strahman Valves, Bethlehem Township).