‘Manufacturing Day’ gives students experience inside local industries
JACKSON, Tenn. — Over a hundred Jackson-Madison County students visited different industries for a unique learning opportunity.
Manufacturing Day is the biggest annual opportunity to teach the next generation about a career in manufacturing. One of the industries that participated was Berry Global. This was their first time participating in an event like this.
“We are very excited as a company to have everyone here. This is a first for us,” said plant manager Matt Willett. “The plant has never had the AMT program inside these walls. Also opening up the facility for Manufacturing Day.”
The day started with the students listening to different people talk about their path to working in manufacturing. This included current and former Jackson State students who worked in manufacturing while going to school. They were also able to learn more about the industry from different managers at the plant.
“It was fun to see the kids being engaged,” Willett said. “They asked a lot of good questions and seemed to be very open minded. Obviously they’re at that age where they are figuring out what they’re going to do in life. Manufacturing is just one of those options.”
While this was the first time Berry Global ‘s Jackson plant has participated in Manufacturing Day, Willet says his team plans on continuing this event to help spread the word about manufacturing jobs to people that are interested.
“Yes, that’s one thing that this team is trying to do and this company here in Jackson, is to get our name out. Let everybody know what we do. A lot of people don’t know what we do,” said Willett. “To get these kids in here and get them excited. There is a lot of opportunities in the world, it does not have to be here at the Jackson facility, but it could be at one of the other Jackson facilities.”
The students were able to take a tour of the facility and see all the work that is done.
There were multiple industries participating in the opportunity for Jackson-Madison County students.
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