Richland County youths unveil manufacturing camp project

Nine Richland County students took summer camp and turned into a lesson in sustainability.

The students, in grades five through eight, spent last week at the Summer Manufacturing Institute Camp. They visited local businesses and developed their own community project based on lessons learned.

On Friday morning, the nine students unveiled their project pertaining to water sustainability at the North End Community Improvement Collaborative Outreach Center at 486 Springmill St. The manufacturing camp was lead by local businessmen Tyler Shinaberry, Jeff Miller and Mansfield Councilman Aurelio Diaz.

Shinaberry of EPIK Ltd., an applied technology engineering company based in Morrow County, said students learned all about water in the Mansfield and Richland County community, standing at the city's Water Treatment Facility on Wednesday when it was raining as storm water started to back up. They were able to witness floodwaters having to be diverted over into the Clearfork Reservoir because it was more than the system could handle, he said.

During the week-long event aimed at showing students a look inside manufacturing facilities and future career fields, students visited Mechanics Bank, Buckeye Imagination Museum, Gorman Rupp, Michael Byrne Manufacturing, the City of Mansfield Water Treatment Plant and Water Waste Plant, Clearfork Reservoir, Miller Fabricating & Welding and The Ohio State University at Mansfield.

Students shared with the crowd what they learned about pumps, plants, power generation, hydraulics and career plans available in Richland County. Students' itineraries included having a crash course on workplace safety, banking and finances, seeing how gears were made at Michael Bryne Manufacturing and then making their own gear boxes.

"They made their own pumps, they made their own electrical systems," Shinabarker said, as community members enjoyed seeing students' work in action at various labs setup on the final day of camp.

Friday morning, students spray painted an orange Mansfield City Schools' Tyger paw print on the parking lot of NECIC which they designed earlier in the week on software and cut at MAPCO in Lexington.

Diaz said Mansfield City School's logo will be placed in the near future outside Mansfield Senior High School creating a pathway. The project is being done in cooperation with the school district and Senior High principal Kris Beasley. Area schools' logos can be made to showcase pride in their school communities too.

"It's going to be a visual legacy of all the participants," he said, adding kids in the manufacturing program can tell their classmates 'I did that.'"

Shinaberry said the goal of this camp's community project was to start a chain reaction and create even more pride in Richland County.

Shinaberry and Miller are issuing a challenge to manufacturers to display the manufacturing camp students' projects on their company walls too.

Lance McKenzie, 13, who will be an eighth grader at Ontario Middle School this fall, said he wants to work in manufacturing someday.

"I like finding out how things work," he said.

He also was looking forward to the pizza luncheon students were having at noon Friday to celebrate completion of the camp.

Jeff Miller, president of Miller Fabrication & Welding, 125 S. Mill St., gave students a look inside his business, a "job shop," making numerous parts for customers from aircraft kitchen equipment to a gasket for a helicopter, parts for runway beacon lights for airports, metal signs for a billboard company, and more, often on short deadlines.

Friday he said he was glad to see kids getting excited about what they can do and serving their communities.

He said the group of students were respectful inside the shop, where their first Tyger paw print fabrication now hangs.

Friday afternoon the camp culminated with a visit to the OSUM/NCSC local campus where U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown presented each student with a certificate of completion. Students also learned about furthering their education after graduating high school.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County youths unveil manufacturing camp project