What’s So Cool About Manufacturing® (WSCM) is proud to announce the award recipients for the fifth annual “Best of PA” Statewide Awards Event. The awards show was held at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, PA, and began at 12:30 pm. This year, the contest included 22 student teams competing for first, second and third place awards, as well as recognizing the Viewers Choice award winner.
A four-judge panel, viewed the 22 entries, representing 11 regional contests across Pennsylvania and a total of 150 student videos, to select the statewide award recipients.
“The continued success of the What’s So Cool program validates its effort to generate excitement toward manufacturing career pathways and promote STEM and CTE education statewide and nationwide,” said Karen Buck, Director of Workforce Initiatives Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC). “We are so excited and proud to celebrate the Best of PA 2023 student teams and highlight their videos!”
This year’s awards are as follows:
First Place: Northeast Middle School, Bethlehem Area School District in Northampton County featuring Stanley Black & Decker
Second Place: Boyertown Middle School West in Boyertown Area School District in Berks County featuring R.M. Palmer Company
Third Place: Conrad Weiser Middle School, Conrad Weiser Area School District in Berks County featuring John F. Martin & Sons, LLC.
Viewers Choice Award: Butler Area Team 2, Butler Area School District in Butler County featuring JSP International, was recognized for garnering the largest number of regional vote totals across the state, during three days of online voting where all Pennsylvania teams competed to win their regional Viewers Choice Award.
The “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” Student Video Contest, which originated in the Lehigh Valley and is the brainchild of MRC, has garnered over 4,000,000 combined votes by the public during regional online voting dates since its inception in 2013, and more than 60% of Pennsylvania school districts have participated in the program.
The WSCM Student Video Contest gives students the opportunity to interact with local manufacturers as they gain new perspectives about careers and technology, record their experiences, and present them in an educational and “cool” way through documentary video production. The “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” program includes a Pennsylvania Department of Education approved lesson plan that is in use across the Commonwealth. The contest was created to generate excitement that draws students toward considering manufacturing career paths to create a 21st century workforce.
The 2023 participating regional contests in Pennsylvania included 150 middle school teams from Bedford County, Berks Schuylkill, Central Susquehanna, Chester Delaware, Lehigh Valley, North Central, Northern Tier, Philadelphia Region, Pittsburgh Central, Pittsburgh East, and South Central.
Funding for regional contests is provided by community stakeholders.
For more information regarding the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing®” Student Video Contest please visit: WhatsSoCool.org/BestofPA, www.WhatsSoCool.org, https://www.whatssocool.org/video-library/ or follow on Twitter @WhatsSoCoolPA
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