CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An online session is planned for next week to give high schoolers in the Fox Valley area a new view of the opportunities of choosing jobs in manufacturing.
The St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce Industrial Committee said there are a lot of jobs available in manufacturing companies in the Fox Valley.
Member Laura Swarts said many students don’t know what they want to do out of high school and are not aware of how many opportunities await them in their own backyard.
“I come from a teaching background and I’ve been in recruiting and staffing in manufacturing for 10 years and I love manufacturing. It’s so interesting and had I been exposed at an early age, I might have chosen a different path,” Swarts told WBBM Newsradio.
Swarts, who works for Vertex Resource Group, a staffing and recruitment firm, is a member of the Industrial Committee of the St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce. She said college is not the best option for everyone right out of high school.
“Kids these days have to realize that you don’t necessarily have to go into the workforce in debt,” Swarts said.
Terry Stroh, the director for the Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System, works with four area school districts including District 300 in Algonquin, District 301 in Burlington, District 303 in St. Charles and Elgin District U-46.
Stroh said students will be able to talk directly to manufacturing company representatives at the Tuesday session.
“Students need to know what those job opportunities are out there. We always talk about, you know, the different pieces that we have to cover in school districts and talking to students about what are the opportunities for careers and what’s the return on investment,” Stroh told WBBM Newsradio.
Committee member Peter Schwartz said hundreds of high schoolers and their parents are expected to participate in Tuesday’s virtual session.
In a similar event before the COVID-19 pandemic, the chamber took busloads of students to various manufacturing companies so they could speak in person to people at those companies.
Swarts said the online information session will give students a chance to see that working in plastics, packaging, food processing or chemical and fabrication might just be for them. She said salaries start at $15 to $18 per hour.
“Potentially, oh gosh, within a couple of years, you can be making enough money to buy a home,” she said.
While the link for the online session is being given to students at their schools, committee member Bo Smith of Strategic Enhancement Group said the session will be recorded and eventually put on the chamber of commerce’s website.
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