2022 has come to an end and the TSMA Dream Team is ready to start the new year. This new year will bring new initiatives and new experiences. New this school year was participating in the Alexandria Area High School Ninth Grade Career Fair. In ninth grade, students at AAHS decide on academies that they are interested in that may lead to a career in that area. Melany Wolf, Massman Engineering, manned the booth and Jimmy Jevnager, FORCE America, led breakout sessions that focused on all the different careers and educational paths in manufacturing. Another new career fair that we attended was the West Central MN College and Career Expo in Fergus Falls. Brittany Holm, Vector Windows and Jimmy Jevnager, FORCE America, manned the booth and spoke to the youth about careers in manufacturing.  We are looking forward to participating in the AAHS High School this spring and other career fairs that we have not participated in before.

Also new this year was adding onto our Dream Team. John Zipoy, from Brenton Engineering completed his training and did videotaping for his Dream Team role. We are also currently working on adding to our Dream Team. We are looking especially for welders. Please let us know if you are interested!

Also new this year is our initiative to get into the middle schools. Meetings between middle school teachers and the Dream Team have been going on. The goal is to create experiences in the middle school years to show students the many careers available in manufacturing. We are working on not just a one-time speaking engagement but a series of sessions to really engage middle school students in the manufacturing industry. We are schedule to start these sessions the end of January. 

There are so many other things going on! 

If you know of any other TSMA business that may be interested in having their company represented on the Dream Team, please call Shari Petersen at 320-766-0081 or email her at DreamTeam@midwestmanufacturers.com.