Reasons to Celebrate

March  2008

• COLUMBUS: Dream It. Do It. was represented at the “Career Opportunity Fair” at Central Community College, Columbus Campus. One component of the fair includes a hands-on experience, where companies have 10 minutes to expose students to some of the activities and skills that are needed at their companies. The Dream It. Do It. booth showed students how to browse the web site to discover the kinds of exciting careers that would fit each of them. The other component included a life skills section that with money management, dress for success, job applications and interview techniques. The fair drew 460 students (mostly grades 8-10) from schools surrounding Columbus. Additionally, there was an entrepreneurship component with 19 students. Students listened to a painter/woodworker, web-based business on life coaching, then they developed a business through a simulation.
  
• FREMONT: With assistance from Omaha Area Director John Vyhlidal, Midland Lutheran College hosted its first Dodge County Career Day that included an estimated 450 local high school students who were exposed to 71 different career topics. One of them included Future Force speaker Randy Vlasin, who promoted careers in manufacturing industries as rewarding, high-tech opportunities. All students received a packet that included a DIDI wrist band and the Career World Magazine.
  
• COLUMBUS: Columbus played host to a Regional Leaders Summit that attracted between 230-250 business leaders. Columbus Area director Angie Ramaekers represented Dream It. Do It. at the event.
  
• LEXINGTON: DIDI hosted a booth at the Dawson County Career Fair at the Dawson County Fairgrounds. An estimated 375 students from Lexington, Cozad, Gothenburg, Elwood, Eustis-Farnam, Overton and Sumner-Eddyville-Milner attended the event. More than 50 students completed contact sheets to learn more about careers in manufacturing.
  
• OMAHA: Dream It. Do It. posters were fitted and placed on all 137 buses in the Metro Area Transit fleet.
  
• GIBBON: Hastings Area Director Kelly Christensen presented the DIDI campaign to the Gibbon Area Chamber of Commerce.
  
• GRAND ISLAND: Kelly Christensen was a guest speaker for The Greater Nebraska Workforce Investment Board and also served as a panelist discussing best practices in “Enhancing the Workforce Through Creative Solutions.”
  
• COLUMBUS: Omaha Area Director Jim Vyhlidal and Jim Vyhlidal of Tri-V Tool & Mfg. of Omaha attended the “Linking Business and Education Leaders Summit” in Columbus on 03-04-08.
  
• OMAHA: Metro Community College hosted a career fair sponsored by the American Welding Society. The event at the South Omaha campus drew approximately 60 potential students.

February  2008

• HEBRON: MetalQuest hosted a tour of the Deshler High School drafting class that included xx students.
• LINCOLN: After touring Southeast Community College’s Milford campus, 28 Raymond Central High School students and their instructor, Mr. Henderson, also toured Lincoln Machine, Inc., in the afternoon. Among other things, the students heard from a mechanical engineer who showed them drawings of some of the machines he has designed and explained how it is done.
• GRAND ISLAND: NAMC Chairman Tony Raimondo was the guest speaker Feb. 27 at the Grand Island Area Economic Development Annual Meeting at Holiday Inn. Raimondo addressed 172 Grand Island business leaders about the need to keep America strong by education parents and students about great jobs that make Nebraska and America strong.
• COLUMBUS: Angie Ramaekers presented DIDI to 26 students in the careers class at Columbus High Schools. Following the class, two of the CHS students went to the DIDI web site and registered to get more information.
• KEARNEY: Students from Kearney, Elm Creek and Amherst participated in a “2-Track” Career Education Tour day in Kearney that included the manufacturing and transportation industries. Students toured companies in one of the industries in the morning, then were hosted to a lunch and continued with tours of the other industry in the afternoon. The day was hosted by the Economic Development Council of Buffalo County and was designed after the Nebraska Career Education (NCE) Career Fields and Clusters Model students, with information on furthering careers in Industrial Production and Distribution and Auto/Diesel Technology.
• LINCOLN: Cheston Coffin of TMCO presented DIDI to 87 students at Lincoln Southwest.
• KEARNEY: Dwayne Probyn attended “The State of Our Economy” seminar February 19th at 2 p.m. at the Kearney Holiday Inn for a discussion on how the economy in Buffalo County is performing. The conference included keynote speaker Robert Ady of Ady International in Chicago, who offered his insights on what is happening nationally and how well Nebraska is competing for economic growth. NPPD Economist Kenneth Lemke presented his research on how our economy is performing based on the numbers. Jonathan Krebs, executive director of the Buffalo County Economic Development Council, presented the 2008 Strategic Plan. A panel representing education, medical care, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism discussed what the next 12 to 18 months holds for each sector of our economy.
• PAPILLION: Dream It. Do It. hosted a booth at Papillion-LaVista South that included an estimated 700 freshman and sophomores at the school’s career fair. Approximately 100 students stopped at the DIDI booth to learn about exciting careers in manufacturing and related businesses.
  
• HOLDREGE: Allmand Bros. Inc. recently hosted a tour of its facilities that included 90 local high school students.
• OMAHA: On Feb. 12, Dwayne Probyn attended a meeting for HRAM (Human Resource Association of the Midlands) and spoke about the Dream It. Do It. campaign to approximately 75 business, education and chamber representatives. NAMC Board member Dr. Doug Christensen was the keynote speaker. Probyn was also included in a breakout session panel titled "Partnerships that Work."
• LINCOLN: Lincoln Public schools completed a successful job shadowing program under the direction of LPS instructor Eric Knoll. In cooperation with the Lincoln DIDI committee, Knoll directed the job-shadowing program that included 41 students, with each of the LPS schools represented. The pilot consisted of six Lincoln manufacturing companies who hosted students for company tours and a visit with a specific company employee who went over the details included in his or her career. The students enjoyed their experience and were surprised to find so much technology in manufacturing. The companies that participated included Novartis, Teledyne Isco, Li-Cor, Lincoln Machine, Inc., Duncan Aviation and Square D. LPS will continue the job shadowing program again in Sept. 2008.
• LINCOLN: Diane Blaser, Workforce Development, and Linda Lichtenberg presented Dream It Do It to guidance counselors at Lincoln Northeast High School. The counselors were very interested in the campaign and Mrs. Lohmeyer and Mr. Bear shared their ideas to help inform students and parents about the careers in manufacturing.

January  2008

• LINCOLN: Jerry Young of Masport presented DIDI to 110 students at Lincoln Southeast.
• OMAHA: John Vyhlidal met with leaders of the Omaha Boy Scouts group to discuss ways in which DIDI can help to educate scouts in high-tech careers. The group has been doing surveys with youth groups to find out what careers they are interested in. The Scouts have been designating participating companies as “Explorer Posts.” Once a company is recognized as a post, it can receive list of names of students interested in a particular trade.
• LINCOLN: Jim Richard of Novartis presented DIDI to 100 students at Lincoln Northeast.
• OMAHA: Dream It. Do It. hosted a booth at Millard South that included an estimated 450 students at the school’s career fair. Approximately 50 students stopped at the DIDI booth to learn about exciting careers in manufacturing and related businesses.
• LINCOLN: Lynn Willey of Southeast Community College reported that 35 Lincoln area manufacturing and related businesses were represented with booths during the Jan. 30 Trades & Industry Career Fair hosted by the Lincoln campus of SCC. The event was designed for students in automotive technology, machine tool technology, welding technology, electronic servicing & electronic engineering Technology, and computer aided design drafting. An invitation was extended to the trades & industry instructors in the Lincoln public schools and surrounding areas and students in those programs as an opportunity for career exploration in the trades area. The goal is to include more high schools next year.
• COLUMBUS: Jon Misfeldt presented DIDI to more than 60 students in the Columbus Middle School 8th-grade Careers Class.
• LINCOLN: Diane Blaser of Nebraska Workforce Development and Jim Richard of Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. presented Dream It Do It to 91 students in four career classes at Lincoln Northeast on Jan 30th. The presentations went very well and the teacher was impressed with the information they had to offer.
• OMAHA: John Vyhlidal met with top officials from Learning for Life in Omaha to discuss educational opportunities to expose students to the need for careers in manufacturing and related businesses. The meeting included the Field Director and District Executive for the Fremont Area, and Bill Swanson, who is the Assistant to the Vice Chancellor at UNO. 
• OMAHA: Dwayne Probyn attended an Omaha Bryan High School meeting in which the school decided to begin a new class named Foundations of Transportation, Distribution, Warehousing and Logistics. The Omaha World-Herald covered the meeting and ran a Jan. 21 story about the new class. The school will kick off a four-year sequence that will prepare students for work in an industry in which about half the jobs are available without studies beyond high school.
  Jobs in the field range from local and long-haul trucking to developing and managing efficient supply chains or distribution networks. Other positions involve sales and service, workplace safety, infrastructure planning and maintenance. The school's focus on the ballooning career field — also known as TDWL —will meet the needs of both students and businesses, according to educators and industry representatives who met recently at the school. Probyn was quoted in the newspaper article, telling the audience there is a need to change the dated image of the industry and that these are good-paying jobs (app. $15 hourly) that won’t be outsourced – they’ll be here forever.
• MEXICO: Jose Rivera of Molex was featured by several media outlets about his recent recognition on the Career Dream Team that came at a luncheon with Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman at the Governor’s Residence. Two newspapers and a radio station recognized Rivera’s accomplishments. Rivera, a graduate of UNL’s Industrial Engineering department, grew up in Mexico City.
• HASTINGS: Central Community College-Hastings Campus hosted the launch of the Hastings Area Dream It. Do It. campaign, which was attended by more than 30 people. The audience included students and leaders of business, government, labor and education. The 90-minute program featured talks by NAMC Chairman Tony Raimondo, Hastings Mayor Matt Rossen, CCC-Hastings President Dr. Lavern Franzen, Hastings Area Manufacturing Association (HAMA) President Tim Singley, NAMC Executive Director Dwayne Probyn, Hastings Area Director Kelly Christensen, and Career Dream Team representative Jose Rivera of Molex. The event was covered by two local television stations, both of which aired stories of the launch, and by the Nebraska ETV network, which aired the presentation several times. A bonus came in the form of five new students deciding to sign up for manufacturing-related curriculums.
• LINCOLN: Novartis hosted the January DIDI meeting, which attracted 31 people that included nearly half who represented manufacturing or related business companies.
• SCRIBNER: Northeast Nebraska Area Director presented DIDI to six students in the Scribner-Snyder High School industrial arts class.
• MCCOOK: Mid-Plains Community College, which already owns a traveling trailer to help educate students about transportation careers, is planning to build another trailer that will include manufacturing careers.
• HASTINGS: CCC hosted the Leadership Hastings group on a tour of the Hastings campus, including the manufacturing and transportation departments.
• COLUMBUS: Tony Raimondo and Jon Misfeldt talked about the importance of exposing students, parents and educators to careers and educational paths that include manufacturing and related businesses to the 2007-2008 Leadership Columbus class. The event was hosted by Loup Power District and is a project of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
• SNYDER: Smeal Fire Apparatus, whose CFO Jeff Scherer is the Northeast Nebraska Area Director for Dream It. Do It., was the subject of talk during a Jan. 24 segment of “The Morning Show” on KFAB of Omaha, Nebraska’s largest radio station. During a program about “things you don't know about Nebraska,” talk show host Jim Rose mentioned Smeal and its 200 fire trucks per year build rate, its location in Snyder, and its national reputation for high tech fire trucks.