The beginning of the year has been the beginning of a return to normalcy for most Minnesotans. What this has meant to the Dream Team is that we are now able to speak and visit even more schools in the region. Covid protocol at some schools prior had been to restrict all visitors so now that these restrictions are being released, we have been very busy!
 
Being able to present to both principals and superintendents in the region was a catalyst for this new year. Ryan Swiontek, Brittany Wing and Shari Petersen presented at the Region 4 Superintendents’ Meeting in Fergus Falls in December. Brittany Wing and Mitchel Nickolauson spoke to the principals on February 17th. The presentations were on what the Dream Team is and what resources are available for schools. They also presented on the new mentorship program.
 
Many schools are taking advantage of the new mentorship program. Derek Klimek presented to the Osakis CTE class on January 5th. Then the Osakis CTE class had a mentorship lunch and a tour of ITW Heartland on January 10th. A job shadowing experience was completed the following week. We received a lot of positive comments on the experiences that these high schoolers received.
 
Sam Ewald, Derek Klimek and Jason Crannell presented at Kalon Prep Academy in Alexandria to three groups of students. We are currently working on scheduling tours of area manufacturing businesses and job shadowing for the month of April. 
 
Jason Crannell also spoke to the Herman Norcross CTE class. This week they are touring Cosmos Enterprises in Elbow Lake and a job shadowing experience is also being planned for them at TSMA businesses.
 
On March 31^st, the Dream Team will have a booth at the Alexandria Area High School and will also be presenting at the breakout sessions. Our breakout session theme is: A Successful Career in Manufacturing Begins After High School – Many Paths Can Be Chosen on That Journey. The Dream Team will presenting all the different career paths that students can take and what type of education is required for those jobs.
 
A dream that we had for the Dream Team is add more members to the team. We have many requests for speaking next year already and are excited to add to our team. We currently are working with two manufacturing businesses to add to the Dream Team. 
 
The Dream Team has also recently completed videotaping several videos that will be submitted and played on Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook. Please continue to share and like these posts so we can get the word out there to young students on what a wonderful opportunity it is to work in the manufacturing industry!
 
We are also looking for TSMA businesses that would be willing to have high schools come and tour their facility in the next two months. We are also looking for TSMA businesses that are interested in letting students come in for job shadowing. The tour only lasts about one hour. The job shadowing, done on a different day, would last an hour also. Please let Shari know if you are willing to help out in those areas also!
 
The success of the Dream Team is because of the wonderful TSMA businesses in the area. Thank you for all your support that you give the Dream Team for this future workforce program!
 
Contact Shari Petersen if can help us out on any of the programming above by emailing dreamteam@midwestmanufacturers.com or by calling (320) 766-0081.