Burgard High School held its first annual manufacturer’s day on Tuesday to expose students to trade opportunities available to them after graduation. 425 students showed up to the event to learn about careers in which they can utilize the training they already receive in their classrooms, such as welding and machine operating.
The keynote speaker at the event, Jimmy Smith, retired from the Navy earlier this year. One of the positions he held during his career was construction manager for the Virginia class submarine program.
“We need tradesmen, we need artisans, pipe fitters, plumbers, welders," said Smith. "We need it in a tremendous way, and one of the unique things about what we build for the Department of Defense is that I can’t use outside sources, they have to come from the US to build US products for our military. If we aren’t planting the seed and growing the opportunity with our youth so that they can be ready and proficient to do the work we need, like building submarines in the future, we won’t have submarines in the future."
Graham Corporation was one of the vendors in attendance at today’s event. Employee Bridget Eichenberger says that the company offers 6-month paid training right out of high school.
“I was actually surprised at how many welders were interested, as well as female welders, so, we have a lot of female welders on our floor and we’re looking to hire a lot of up-and-comers," said Eichenberger. "Like I said, we have a lot of opportunity to grow and we have people that are at our company that have been there for 40, 45 years.”
Robert Harris, Director for Career and Technical Education for Buffalo Public Schools, says students can save time and money by forgoing traditional college, and still start at $50,000-$60,000 a year, using the skills they’re already learning at Burgard.