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Manufacturing Month brings together classrooms and companies in Mt. Pleasant
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — Students and Chamber of Commerce members are reminded this month that Manufacturing in Mt. Pleasant is far from an abstract idea. Especially for Mt. Pleasant Community School District iJAG students, industry is tangible as the individuals that speak in their classrooms, offer them job shadows, and sit alongside them at lunch.
As part of National Manufacturing Month, the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce has organized multiple visits to different manufacturing leaders throughout Henry County for members and students. One celebratory visit was not in an industrial building, however, it took place in the Mt. Pleasant Community High School Media Center with iJAG students and instructors.
At a Lunch and Learn hosted by the Mt. Pleasant Community School District’s iJAG programs, students made their case for internships, job shadows and a variety of hands-on experiences to members of the chamber and school board.
The pitch was simple: connect classroom momentum to career pathways here at home.
iJAG staff traced how students can move from middle school through graduation with leadership training, career education and employer engagement, a model the statewide nonprofit outlines for partner schools.
Students laid out goals including regular classroom speakers, scheduled job shadows and business tours designed to widen their view of local careers. Leaders in the iJAG program shared with their guests just how impactful their personal participation has been.
“If you would have told me before that I would be standing in front of you, talking to you, right now, I would have said, ‘there ain’t no way,’” iJAG student Zoey Johnson said. “I was too afraid to talk before iJAG.”
Lianah Phangchanthong told how iJAG has given her many opportunities for personal growth.
“iJAG is going to benefit me further in the future, too,” she said. “Because I am getting my voice out. I am getting my name out so people know who I am and I can make connections.”
Echoing the pride of growth in the students, iJAG specialist Beki Hoyle specifically addressed a need for more business professionals from all kinds of careers to partner with the programs either by coming and talking with classes, being a class mentor, offering job shadows or even giving a student an opportunity with an internship while in the iJAG program.
“The goal is, every single student in iJAG, by the time they graduate, will have an internship of some type,” iJAG education specialist Beki Hoyle shared. “That can be hard in a town this size.”
According to Hoyle, inviting chamber members and business leaders to this lunch and learn was designed to hopefully make connections between the students and locals who can help fulfill this goals.
The Lunch and Learn fit right in with the overall tone of Manufacturing Month which offered chamber members shop-floor access to businesses such as Heath & Home Technologies, MacKay Mitchell Envelope Company and Walmart Distribution Center.
In fact, the students even made their way to their own tours of Walmart Distribution Center and Innovairre to celebrate this October. Those open doors offer them context to careers they may have not otherwise know they were interested in.
The Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce tour of Hearth & Home Technologies highlighted how hearth products are made right in Mt. Pleasant. Hearth & Home Technologies operates locally designing and producing fireplaces and related products across multiple brands.
Chamber members also visited Mackay Mitchell Envelope Company earlier in the month. Among those on the tour was Henry County Supervisor Chad White who shared a bit about his experience at a supervisor meeting following the tour.
“Anybody want to take a wild guess at how many envelopes they typically make a year?” he asked.
Without any guesses White answered.
“It’s a gazillion,” he chuckled. “No, anywhere from 10 to 12 million envelopes was the number that they threw out there. It is a lot of envelopes.”
During the tour White said he learned about the logistics of the operation in Mt. Pleasant, which is MacKay Mitchell’s primary envelope manufacturing facility. The company also has a smaller facility located in Minnesota.
“It was kind of an interesting thing,” White shared. “It has been around here forever, you know, essentially, but I didn’t know much about it. It’s just one of those industries. It’s kind of out there and just kind of chugs along and does its thing.”
Chamber leaders framed the tours as a way to see safety and quality standards in motion and to understand day-to-day operations at key employers.
Chamber Director of Membership Erica Martin called the visits “a wonderful opportunity to learn more about one of our valued manufacturers and to connect with fellow ambassadors and guests,” underscoring the networking that iJAG students are already learning to appreciate.
The Chamber’s Manufacturing Month celebrations are not over quite yet, though. Members have one more opportunity to get an up-close look at manufacturing in Mt. Pleasant at FRATCO, Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com
