Venango is Future Ready 

By: Raquel Knight | 3/12/24

On Thursday, February 29th, the VenangoREADY Education Committee for the Chamber held its Educator Event and Industry Tours event at Pepro, a premier Shielded Enclosure manufacturer, which hosted the event.  

VenangoREADY is a workforce preparedness initiative of the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce with local schools, and offers this annual event for educators and local employers to network.

Heather Motter, language arts teacher at Cranberry High School, said “As a member of the Chamber Education Committee, I really appreciate how much the Chamber supports our educational community. They truly value educators and work really hard to make this a worthwhile and enjoyable opportunity.”

Kat Thompson, Membership & Education Manager at the Venango Chamber, coordinated the event that brought employers and educators together to learn about employment opportunities for students now and in the future.

Teachers, school counselors, administration, and staff from A-C Valley, Christian Life Academy, Cranberry, Forest, Franklin, Oil City, Titusville, Valley Grove, Venango Catholic, and Venango Technology Center schools were all invited to attend.

At the event, three business tours were offered (SMS Group, Pepro, Electralloy) and 18 local businesses set up to network information about their company.

Lynn Brandt, Workforce Development Manager at Franklin Industries, a company that primarily takes recycled railroad tracks that are being lifted up and turns them into highway and farm posts, says, “We like to come here to this one partially so that we can talk to the educators and they can take the information back to their students.”

Brandt adds on by saying, “A lot of times you can live right in the area and not know exactly what’s going on.”

During this event, attendees spoke to local businesses about the opportunities and job offers in the area. Educators then communicate this information to students in their home districts.

Stephanie Keebler, Superintendent of Titusville Area School District and a member of the Educational Committee of the Venango Chamber, states that the purpose of the event is to “support connecting students to area businesses.”

Venango County schools continually graduate students who pursue higher education; however, many students go right into the workforce to start their careers.

Arien Morgan, HR Manager at Grand Valley Manufacturing, says, “There are good jobs locally that pay really well, and provide good career paths for people.”

She went on to say, “That’s why we come, to make people aware that we are here, we’re local, and we want to give our communities a future to be prosperous.”

Also there to explain how local businesses provide great job opportunities was Deb Grove, a Franklin High School educator who teaches 8th-12th grade Industrial Technology and Best Robotics, says, “I like to see the opportunities that are available to our students, teaching high schoolers. Not all of them want to go to college and it’s fun to see opportunities that are out there and local.”

Speaking to the uniqueness of jobs in this area, Chad Bowler, an employee at Electralloy, says that employees, “whether it’s pouring metal or running a crane, could be making steel that goes into a SpaceX rocket…military submarine, Navy warship, anything like that.”

An overwhelming theme of the evening was that whether students earn a degree or go straight into the workforce, there is a job for people in Venango County.

Kerry Hepler, vice president of Schake Industries, an aluminum silos manufacturing company that ships products all over the country, says, “I think just bringing awareness to teachers about the different opportunities that are here and trying to get past that stereotype that there is nothing here and instead of pushing students away to just keep them here to build up Venango County.”

Other than speaking with industry and educational representatives about the opportunities available in the county, educators learned what companies are looking for in future employees.

“We really look for work ethic. We really value honesty, integrity, commitment, and quality is all we base it on, specifically someone who shows up to work every day,” says Hepler.

Duane Laskey, a representative of Electralloy, furthermore went into detail by saying “It gives us an opportunity to show that there are jobs in the area. Anywhere from entry-level production jobs to chemistry, sales, marketing, accounting, all that. There are jobs here.”

Chris Hulings, plant manager from SMS, a business for plant construction and mechanical engineering for the metals industry, went more into detail about what they look for in a young worker saying, “A few of the most important disciplines young people can bring here is the correct attitude. There is not a lot of glory in what we do but it is a great place to work. Work ethic and being on time is critical to the team performance.”

“I think the next logical step beyond just working with the educators is really having students have an opportunity to see that they don’t have to leave Venango County or Crawford County, that there are life-sustaining jobs here,” says Stephanie Keebler. 

Overall, educators were able to get a better understanding of all the opportunities available to their students as they enter the workforce and seemed eager to communicate that to their students.