Events to highlight manufacturing jobs to high school students

Two events are planned Friday in the Wichita area to mark National Manufacturing Day.

Wichita Area Technical College said it expects to host 250 students from eight area high schools during its event, which will be held at its main campus at the National Center for Aviation Training, 4004 N. Webb.

Butler Community College also plans to mark the day with a free Career and Technical Education Day at its Andover campus, 715 E. 13th St.

WATC said its event will allow students to see demonstrations in aerospace coatings, composites, machining, welding, 3-D printing, robotics, design, industrial automation and aviation manufacturing. They also will hear from officials at Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation and Westar Energy.

WATC said students expected to attend the event are coming from high schools in Andover, Derby and El Dorado as well as five Wichita high schools: Heights, North, Northwest, Southeast and West.

Butler said its event has a dual purpose of showcasing technological career options to high school students, and demonstrating the technology Butler students are using in various academic programs to area manufacturing company leaders and human resource professionals.

Butler said it is inviting business people to attend its event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It also will provide them lunch. High school students attending the event will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. followed by tours, hands-on demonstrations and faculty visits.

The WATC and Butler events are among more than 2,000 Manufacturing Day events planned across the country.

Business people interested in attending the Butler event can call 316-218-6118 for more information.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Events to highlight manufacturing jobs to high school students."