The College of the Canyons Advanced Technology Center hosted its fourth annual Manufacturing Day at the interim site on Friday afternoon, giving local high school students an opportunity to see and learn about different manufacturing tools through a tour and demonstrations.
Harriet Happel, dean of career education at COC, said that the college has always supported manufacturing month, which takes place during October, and provides people the opportunity to learn about the field.
“When I first started with the college 10 years ago, our manufacturing day event consisted of having guest lectures in our performing arts center, and so people were hearing, right? But they weren’t participating,” Happel said. “As soon as we got the interim site up and running four years ago, this is our fourth manufacturing day here. We really wanted people to understand that our whole approach to how we train in these skills is hands-on.”
Happel walked through the tour of the facilities discussing the different robots, like fenced robots, their use and their purposes; the test, “Initial B Pressure Welder Test,” on which students need to score at least 80%, or they do not pass to become a welder; and the tools that students use throughout the program.
Happel believes the reason the college transitioned to this style of the event is because it gives the high school students the confidence to understand.
“It’s the same adage that we’ve used: If you can see it, you can be it. They can see it. They can feel it. They can touch it. That’s what is so important,” Happel said about the high school students who participate in the event.
Raleigh Gallina, director of human resources at CrissAir, said it is important for students to know there are career paths that do not require getting a degree.
“I think it’s important because there’s a lot of public discourse on how expensive degrees are. And so, I’m in human resources, (a) director of human resources, but my degrees are in political science, peace, and complex studies, and sociolinguistics,” Gallina said. “And so, I’ve paid for all these degrees … But I think for my generation, that was very commonplace, it was just encouraged to go to a four-year (university), even though you don’t know what you want to do, until you actually get in there.”
Gallina added that showing the students other opportunities besides going to a university is great.
She listed examples consisting of a night person looking at later shifts they offer at CrissAir or if the person enjoys working the daytime, they might consider working four 10-hour shifts and having Friday off.
“So, these things that you don’t really talk about in a formal academic setting. We’re trying to have that exposure here. But yeah, even (with) that mechanical aptitude, even if people like to play with cars in their free time, we notice that as a good fit for even our assembly and testing,” Gallina said.
Gallina said one thing they were emphasizing to students is that places like CrissAir are viable options for career paths.
