Manufacturing job opportunities inspires local students

By: Kevin Waltz

Editor-in-Chief

Future manufacturers from Troy High P-TECH gathered in the new Haas Center on Friday, Oct. 4, to celebrate Manufacturing Day.

Manufacturing Day is a day dedicated to the inspiration of future generations nationwide. At Hudson Valley Community College, students looking to enter the manufacturing sector were shown the newly unveiled Haas Center and educated on the opportunities the field provides. 

“This is the first year that we’ve made some kind of an effort to work with manufacturing day,” said Professor James Hamilton. “This is a good way to introduce younger people to some things that they probably never even imagined.”

Hamilton, a professor of manufacturing, led the students on a tour throughout the building. He gave an in-depth explanation of Hudson Valley Community College’s manufacturing program and its career opportunities.

“This is a field of employment that is open to a lot of people and they’re probably not aware of it,” said Hamilton. ““It’s a good field [and] you can make $100,000 running machines if you want to.” 

 Although New York State’s Capital Region has a rapidly expanding manufacturing sector, 40% retirement rates and a shortage of skilled workers have caused economic growth to be limited.

“There’s a dire need for people to work in these areas,” Hamilton said. “It’s a good occupation [and] you can make a good living out of it,” he continued. “People just aren’t aware of it.” 

The students that visited the campus were members of Troy High P-TECH, a technical field program at Troy High School.

“The P-TECH program run at Troy High introduces students to several different areas that are technical fields that they might not otherwise see in a regular school setting,” Hamilton explained. 

The P-TECH program at Troy High is geared towards preparing students towards a career path in the most high demand fields such as manufacturing.

“Hudson Valley [Community College] is one of our partners, but we also have Simmons [Machine Tool], Regeneron [Pharmaceuticals], and General Electric,” said Christine Dauphinais, a counselor at Troy High. 

Simmons Machine Tool is one of the businesses benefiting from the Haas center. They are projecting nearly double the profit for next year after contributing to the Hudson Valley Community College’ s advanced manufacturing program. 

“We visit [Simmons Machine Tool] in the summer, and usually everyone who is working there is from Hudson Valley [Community College],” Dauphinais added.

According to Hamilton, some local manufacturing companies have employed up to approximately 20 Hudson Valley Community College graduates. Hamilton said that the companies are looking to hire even more students.

“Manufacturing has really been booming the last few years, and all the people who really know how to do things are all retiring and they need to replace those workers,” he said.

Manufacturing students at Hudson Valley Community College are nearly guaranteed to be hired before they even graduate.

“90 to 95 percent of our students have a job lined up well before they graduate,” said Hamilton. “Half the freshman students have a job right now.”

Enrollment in the manufacturing program has increased by approximately 30 percent this year. Hamilton partially attributed this increase to the completion of the new Haas Center. 

“Getting [the CAMS] building in here is providing a tremendous opportunity for us to train more people,” said Hamilton. “This year, we have three sections during the day, two sections at night [and] we are running five sections of just freshman,” he continued. “It’s a huge increase.”

Hamilton said he is hopeful for future generations of manufacturers at Hudson Valley Community College.

“In the future we’re going to promote it more and have more people come through,” said Hamilton. “People don’t have the skills that are needed, and we are providing that. This building gives us a way to provide that,” he added. “I have good hopes for the way things are going.”