Area students receive hands-on look at local future career opportunities

CRANE, Ind. (Thursday, May 7, 2009) _ By Nick Schneider, Assistant Editor, Greene County Daily World

About 500 junior high and high students from a three-county area converged on the WestGate Tri-County Technology Park on Thursday to learn about current and future job opportunities close to home. Greene County Citizen's Academy and The Citizen's Academy Legacy Organization (CALO) co-sponsored the hands-on career fair in cooperation with the WestGate Authority, WestGate Development, LCC. and NSA Crane.

The event, open to students in Greene, Daviess and Martin counties, featured 25 walk-through educational stations operated by private defense contractors, NSA Crane specialty group teams, local businesses, a fire department, a utility company, an area training center and community college.

The groups and organizations demonstrated their goods and products and told the students about the skill and educational training required to fill the growing number of jobs in the tech park.

Students got to hold a variety of small weapons, see and touch many high-tech electronic and optic devices as well as military equipment, hardware and training items that are used around the world by the nation's warfighters in the Navy, Marines, Army and other branches of the military service.

There was a heavily-armored Hummvie and a Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV) that was modified and made combat ready at NSA Crane for the students to view.

Currently, more than 300 people work in the tech park with plans to triple that number in coming years.

The purpose of the event was to show the students from eight area schools career opportunities available through employers in the local three-county area.

"Knowing more about local employment options will help the students tailor their high school, technical school and college plans so they can live and work in this area after graduation," said Steve Clark, who serves as president of the The Citizen's Academy Legacy Organization (CALO).

The vendors included: SAIC, EG & G, Stimulus Engineering, MLE Enterprises, ITT Electronics and Services, Avonics Corporation, Crane Federal Credit Union, Bloomfield State Bank, Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Greene County Community Learning Center, Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana Army National Guard, Farm Bureau, Inc., Advance Manufacturing Productivity Center, Linton Family Pharmacy, Greene County General Hospital, Richland-Taylor Township Fire Department and Tri-Star Engineering as well as four NSA Crane groups -- Electro-Optics, Small Arms Weapons, Ordnance Test Area, Expeditionary Warfare.

Clark and others, including WestGate Authority member Ron Toon, Greene County Redevelopment Commission member Ken Gremore, Greene County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Joan Bethell and WestGate Development LCC/DEA Architects principal Dale Ankrom all agree a similar informational fair at WestGate for the general public was a good idea for the future.

"We need to have a real serious discussion on how we can improve this. This is just a start. We got this far in one year and just three or four people who were working on it," Clark said.

Bethell said focusing on the youth is a good idea to lay the framework and plant the seed for them to return to the area after some post-secondary training.

"As we show them that the opportunities are here, then they will start to work towards them and say I need to develop these skill sets and as they develop those skill sets they position themselves so they can come back and get a job. But the time these eighth and ninth graders graduate, go to college and come back, this tech park will be a whole lot more filled (with tenants)," Bethell said.

Toon agreed and said, "This is a good thing here. Number one to me, you have to commend the people that put it together. You have to definitely thank the people (the presenters) that took the time to come here. Plus with the excellence that they are doing this -- taking the time to talk to these kids. They are not just showing them weapons. They are sowing a lot of seed here today. What we are wanting is, we want people to understand what it takes to come here (to the tech park) and work. We don't want them to think that they can just show up here and get a job.

"If everybody will be patient with this, we are all going to be winners. Overall, everything is coming together and we can see it coming together and we (the counties) are actually receiving funds now."

Gremore said people in the three-county area that makes up the state-certified tech park need to be made more aware of work being done currently.

"This is a great idea and we need to have an open house out here on a Sunday or something. The worst thing about this tech park is people are not aware of what's going on here. Just letting these kids know that there is something they can do here if they want to put forth the effort -- one of these days they could work in one of these buildings and not have to move away to do it," Gremore said. "They can have really good paying jobs here."

Gremore added, "We need more support from our people in the community and they need to know actually what we are doing. They hear about it, but they really don't know. It (the tech park) is coming along."

Developer Ankrom, who is heading up the planning and design of the park in a contract agreement with the WestGate Authority, said he was impressed by what he saw at the career fair.

"It's absolutely terrific. We are thrilled. It's better than we expected. >From this first year, we will have something to build up," he said.

Ankrom, who hails from the Carmel area, also likes the idea about doing a similar open house for the public to show what progress is being made and hear about exciting future plans for the tech park.

"This (career fair) is an eye-opener for all of us. It was neat to talk to some of the students and teachers on the tours. Everyone is impressed. I think this (career fair) will have an impact," Ankrom pointed out.

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