Students Rub Elbows With Maintenance Professionals
Behind the running of a well oiled machine is a knowledgeable maintenance man.
Wednesday at Mid East Career and Technology Center, 17 multicraft industrial technology students showed off their skills at the First Annual maintenance Expo. Instructor Dan Marion says the expo gives the community a chance to meet vendors and his students a chance to network.
"Well they have the ability to interface and network with both suppliers and maintenance individuals and then sometime down the road there will be a position open and they will remember their name and they will hopefully be able to ascertain a job," says Marion.
The students also showed off their class project, The Widget Machine. The Widget Machine was designed and built completely by the students and can inspect and sort a part automatically. Marion says since our area is big on distribution, he wanted the students to build a machine relevant to the needs of local corporations. One multicraft industrial technology student, Danny Lashley, says the program has expanded his skills and taught him a lot about working with other people.
"Being in the maintenance field you have to get along with supervisors, other maintenance people, the people who are actually doing the work on the floor and it really teaches you respect and common courtesy," says Lashley.
There were 28 vendors at Wednesday’s Maintenance Expo and Marion says he hopes to see that expand next year.
Katie Jeffries
