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West Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership

Teacher Manufacturing Bootcamp 2025

First Day of Camp at WSU-Lake

The 2025 Teacher Manufacturing Bootcamp took place the week of June 16 with 15 dedicated teachers embarking on o journey to learn about manufacturing careers in our region. They were led by their instructor, Dr. Dee Bassinger of Ashland University, to learn about available jobs that might interest their students and prepare a lesson plan to take back to the classroom and share with their students. Participating teachers represented schools from across the region including Bluffton Schools, Allen East, Bath, Wapakoneta, Ft. Recovery, New Knoxville, Holy Angels School, Shawnee, Upper Valley Career Center, and Allen County and Auglaize County ESC. The group represented K-12, Career Tech, and administrative educators. All showed curiosity and concern for offering their students a better understanding of career opportunities in manufacturing.
teacher bootcamp - first day

The campers broke up into two groups for the first 3 days of camp touring Cooper Farms, Pratt Industries, Machine Concepts, Nidec, Pax Industries, Crown Equipment, Airstream, Plastipak, Rheinmetal, and Midmark. The fourth day of the camp had the groups combine to tour Wash Penn Plastics and the Honda Engine Plant.

The manufacturing hosts offered a detailed description of the job opportunities available in their business and key educational needs of potential employees. Discussion focused on communication skills, reading proficiency, basic math understanding, and a disciplined approach to work. The teachers got a better understanding of the variety of manufacturing careers in the region including technical, business, human resources career opportunities. They also learned about how the various companies support education and career growth.

Crown Equipment Company
Wash Penn
Machine Concepts
Machine Concepts
Nidec