Revitalizing skilled trades: Overhauling the U.S. education system for a resurgent workforce

In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, we speak with Antigone Sharris, Chairperson of the Engineering Technology Program at Triton College in River Grove, Ill., and Krystal Santaniello, Industrial Technology Teacher at Crystal Lake South High School in Crystal Lake, Ill., about emphasizing the skilled trades in the U.S. education system. Sharris talks about her more than 25 years of teaching the trades, her experience attending Chicago Lane Tech when it was a true tech school, and her involvement with FMA's Nuts, Bolts, and Thingamajigs (NBT) summer camps, which are designed to introduce middle school students to potential career paths in manufacturing, metal fabrication, STEM, and other skilled trades. Among the several NBT camps that Sharris started are GLoW (Girls Learning to Weld) and GADgET (Girls Adventuring in Design, Engineering, and Technology) Girls. And Santaniello speaks about her efforts to help District 155 in the Chicago-area grow its trades and industrial technology programs at the high school level. Jump to 09:40 for our conversation with Antigone and Krystal. At the top, Dan and the crew talk about their experiences with summer camps, or lack thereof. Email us at podcast@thefabricator.com with any comments, questions, or suggestions.

Om Podcasten

The Fabricator Podcast brings you conversations with people who make things out of metal. We speak with manufacturing leaders, metal fabricators, welders, job shop owners, small business entrepreneurs, artists, marketers, educators, and more. Host Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief of The Fabricator, and a rotating co-hosts also go beyond discussing just manufacturing and the skilled trades, and chats about pop culture, current events, food, music, movies, comedy, and, of course, robots. Episodes drop on Tuesdays. The Fabricator Podcast is presented by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association and part of the FMA Podcast Network.