Students from Joseph Van Pelt Elementary recently dropped by Strongwell to explore and understand how their education and talents could be applied locally and to future careers.

In an effort to promote occupational awareness, Will Scheuer, school counselor at Van Pelt Elementary School, reached out and coordinated tours at multiple businesses and manufacturing facilities such as Universal Fibers, Reclaimed Resources, and WCYB TV.

During their visit at Strongwell, Tekai Shu (Social Media and Business Development Manager) provided the students with an idea of how career paths materialized with bachelors, masters, associates, and training degrees/certifications. The tour entailed visits in customer service, IT, marketing, accounting, purchasing, manufacturing, estimation, drafting, and R&D.

In the interactive portion of the tour, students were able to speak with Jonathan Thomason (Drafter - Bristol) about his passion in drafting and architecture. A real-time math tutorial on project design and review was conducted by Rodney Banks (Structural Detailer/Checker - Bristol). Within the digital realm, Keith Jones (Drafter - Bristol) highlighted the power of design renderings through AUTOCAD.

Strongwell would like to thank the students and staff members from Van Pelt and the Bristol Virginia Public School System for highlighting manufacturing.