Boot camps help educators learn about manufacturing career paths

10 female educators wearing bright yellow safety vests and protective coverings on their shoes line up at a yellow railing to listen to two manufacturing leaders at Whirlpool Corp. 10 female educators wearing bright yellow safety vests and protective coverings on their shoes line up at a yellow railing to listen to two manufacturing leaders at Whirlpool Corp.

Whirlpool Corporation hosts outreach programs to educators

Some of Whirlpool Corp.’s plant operations recently held outreach programs to help educators learn more about manufacturing and careers in the field. One of these programs, the “Putnam County Educator Boot Camp,” was held in Ottawa, Ohio and was attended by elementary, middle and high school teachers and counselors. Attendees were given a tour with presentations by plant leadership, as well as some “hands on” experience.

Ottawa female teacher with blonde hair, safety vest, protective gloves, wearing jeans trying her hand at a circuit board during the Whirlpool manufacturing bootcamp for educators“We had a fantastic event at Ottawa Operations,” said Communications Lead Kelsi Hashbarger. “We showed the group several real life examples of people who have built their careers at our plant, and that was a huge hit with the educators.”

Female educator at the Whirlpool Manufacturing bootcamp testing equipment at manufacturing plant. She has long blonde hair, is smiling, and wearing a striped shirt with a safety vest over it, and protective gloves. Additional teachers are in the background.A similar program at the company’s Marion Operations was the product of a joint effort between Marion Technical College, Ohio State University (Marion branch) and Ashland University.

“There was a group of around 17 teachers and each participant could earn three graduate credit hours through the program,” said Manufacturing Specialist Tracy Schilling, who helped to coordinate the visit by the teachers as they toured a half dozen different manufacturing facilities in the region.

“The basic goal of the whole program was to introduce teachers to manufacturing with the intent of them passing this information down to their students and being able to answer questions about careers in manufacturing,” said Schilling. “We received great feedback from several of the attendees who were surprised at how clean, modern and high tech the facility was, and that we provided educational reimbursement. Based on the success of this session, we are already planning to take part in the program again.”

Whirlpool Corp.’s nine U.S. plants employ approximately 15,000 people, with 10,000 of those working at five plants in the state of Ohio.

Twelve female educators and two male manufacturing leaders pose for a group photo. All teachers are wearing bright yellow safety vests. All are smiling. Twelve female educators and two male manufacturing leaders pose for a group photo. All teachers are wearing bright yellow safety vests. All are smiling.