02-04-2025
Students explore career options at ReadyCT's Manufacturing Roadshow hosted by Quinnipiac University
HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The future of Connecticut's manufacturing industry is on display at the M&T Bank Arena at Quinnipiac University. The university is hosting ReadyCT's Manufacturing Roadshow. The area is full of companies and agencies that are all looking to hire people to manufacture things.
Even if those people are still in school, like Jackson Virtue. He's a senior and captain of the Middletown High School robotics team.
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'So, I've learned a lot of technical abilities,' Virtue said. 'I use my hands a lot. So, when I'm putting the bot together, I'm very good at putting stuff together.'
Those are exactly the skills needed by today's manufacturers. Quinnipiac is stressing what's different in 21st-century manufacturing.
'So many robotics, cobotics, so many great opportunities that you wouldn't think of as the typical dirty shop floor in the past,' said Prof. Lynn Byers, who is the University's Director of Mechanical Engineering.
On the floor of the Arena, an estimated 1,100 students are learning about their possible futures.
'All about manufacturing, and all about different companies around Connecticut, and maybe even getting a little job here just manufacturing stuff,' said Cheshire High School Junior Jacob Rivera.
Just about everything we use every day was manufactured somewhere, and here in Connecticut things are manufactured that can take you deep underwater, or even to the moon. NASA is working on the Artemis mission to send astronauts to live on the moon. That mission needs equipment and people to make it.
'What's key about keeping our country on the forefront of competition when it comes to the space race and working with companies across the nation is getting kids into that area, right?' said Keegan Jackson, Resident Manager, Space Launch System at NASA's Artemis Mission. 'So, we want kids to be inspired to go into manufacturing.'
There are already 4,800 manufacturers in Connecticut, a number that could grow based on federal trade policy.
'So, we're looking at how we can continue to invest in the manufacturing sector to be able to bring manufacturing back to Connecticut, based on what's happening at the federal level, as it relates to tariffs and things like that,' said the state's Chief Manufacturing Officer, Paul Lavoie.
Which means more demand for young minds to consider manufacturing careers.
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