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Darke County Economic Development
Area
Superintendents Visit Midmark and Crown
Companies and school officials discuss opportunities for students,
forging new partnerships
VERSAILLES- School district superintendents from two states, four
counties, and twelve different school districts came together recently
to meet with area business as a part of Darke County’s workforce
development initiative. The effort is led by the county’s
collaborative economic development effort known as Partnering for
Progress (P4P). Both Midmark Corporation in Versailles and New
Bremen-based Crown Equipment Corporation, two of West Central Ohio’s
largest employers, participated in the unique all-day event.
According to officials, the companies were asked to do far more than is
usually part of a standard manufacturing facility tour.
“We asked the companies to make direct connections between the work the
school officials saw on the floors of these plants to the skills it
takes to execute those jobs and the career paths that exist for the
individuals who excel in those positions,” explained Darke County
Economic Development Director Marc Saluk. “In short, to really draw a
line between these positions and the opportunities for the emerging
workforce that lay beyond them.”
According to Saluk, creating awareness about the jobs and opportunities
that exist in the manufacturing sector in Darke County, as well as much
of the rest of West Central Ohio, is a fundamental piece of the P4P
workforce development initiative. That process, he explains,
doesn’t necessarily start with the students as it has in prior
efforts-- it starts at the top of the school districts with the
superintendents.
“This thought process came from the companies themselves,” explained
Dave Peltz, Director of the Greenville Technical Education Center.
“There was a near-universal consensus among manufacturers that there
would be a greater benefit to our efforts in the long run if educators
first had a better understanding of the landscape of modern
manufacturing. They made us realize that we needed a top down approach
to really connect education and business in an attempt to fully show
and to realize the opportunities that exist.”
At Midmark, the company’s HR team interspersed several roundtable
discussions and learning opportunities with time in the production
area. School officials were divided into small teams when in
these areas to encourage questioning and feedback. The Midmark team
also spent considerable time discussing career opportunities for
students upon graduation and a number of potential projects that could
allow more students to get work experience while still in school.
At Crown, the superintendents were treated to lunch before beginning
their interactive tour through the company’s three main production
plants while learning about the multitude of job titles and specific
employment needs of the area’s largest employer.
Partnering for Progress officials state that the manufacturing
awareness portion of the county’s workforce development effort is
scheduled to continue perpetually with plans to continually expose
educators, students, and parents alike to the opportunities in modern
manufacturing.
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