Caterpillar Participates in Discover Manufacturing Central Illinois Career Expo

On Wednesday, October 24, nearly 1,200 area high school students gathered together at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Ill., for the Discover Manufacturing Central Illinois Career Expo. The expo, which featured tours of local manufacturers, a mini expo complete with hands-on displays and several guest speakers, gave students insight into what a career in manufacturing really looks like.

This is the third year for the expo, and Caterpillar's second year to participate. This year, Caterpillar significantly increased participation with many different hands-on displays at the expo and by adding a tour of building LL in East Peoria, Ill., which included interaction with employees.

Of the 33 participating area high schools, six schools were selected to tour Caterpillar and building LL. The students were greeted by several East Peoria employees and given the opportunity to not only tour parts of our LL facility, but to learn first hand what it takes to maintain a career in manufacturing.

Andrew Hebert, fabrication specialist, gave a simple account of his journey. He told the students that he likes to work with his hands and felt that a career like the one he has now allows him to feel good about what he does everyday.

Kimberly Randolf, machine specialist, told the students how important subjects like math, geometry and trigonometry are in her job. She highlighted the importance of education—one day you really will use this again!

Nick Randitsas, assembly specialist, was also a very spirited speaker. He gave a quick overview of his career and daily job. He told the students how critical it is to pay close attention to your work. "The quality of your work says just as much about the company you work for as it does about you personally. When you work in assembly, you're part of a team and you want to make sure you do your portion of the job right so that the team succeeds."

Once the students completed the tour they headed over to the Civic Center, where they joined hundreds of other students from around the area. The students enjoyed lunch and took some time to check out several of the booths offered at the Career Expo before hearing from several industry and community experts.

Skylar Schafer, a senior at DeeMack High School, took a moment to share his experience on the day. "The best part of the day was the Civic Center. My friends and I really enjoyed the interactive displays like the weld simulator and Caterpillar's assembly cart."

Skylar hopes to one day work in engineering. He currently works at Caterpillar in the SOS Lab at building LC, analyzing oil as part of a co-op program organized through his school. If engineering doesn't work out he hopes to pursue a career in one of the many manufacturing fields at Caterpillar. Perhaps he'll even follow in his father's footsteps, Andrew Schafer, who is a section manager in building LL.

"The stories they told really give you hope—I was surprised by the number of careers that exist in manufacturing," said Skylar.

The day concluded with messages from Integrated Manufacturing Operations Division Managing Director of Caterpillar Mexico Ron Riekena and Congressman Aaron Shock. Both gave accounts of their career paths. They spoke about the need for manufacturing in the U.S. and the gaps that currently exist in the field. They challenged students to follow their dreams, to look ahead to what the future holds and to not stand back from a challenge.