JEFFERSON TWP — Teachers became the students last week, learning about the skills that individuals in manufacturing trades need to know.

The skills-based training was developed after an education summit in November 2013, according to Kierston Hobaugh, director of the United Way of Butler County.

The training, on March 16 and 17 at Penn United Technologies, involved 10 technology education teachers and guidance counselors from the Karns City, Mars, Moniteau and South Butler school districts.

This was the first training of this kind, according to Scott Covert, training coordinator with Penn United. During the two-day training, teachers learned some of the basic skills taught to students who are entering the manufacturing workforce.

The teachers learned how to read and draw blueprints, which typically have three views: a front, right and center drawing. Covert also taught the teachers about tolerance, the allowed amount of measurement variance when building parts. Blueprints and tolerance are both crucial to manufacturing jobs.

“A blueprint is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object,” Covert told the teachers. “This is one of the hardest things to teach.”

Blueprint reading and drawing require strong visualization skills, he said, which can require a lot of practice if the skill does not come naturally.

By experiencing what a typical apprentice would learn, the educators are better equipped to teach students the necessary skills.

“The schools would really like to see what we’re doing in business so they can incorporate those examples in the classroom,” Covert said.

One of the activities on creating blueprints is something that districts can implement in the classroom, he said. Penn United sells differently shaped blocks that help students hone their blueprint skills. In fact, other lessons the educators had can be easily translated into a high school lesson, Covert said.

This is exactly the plan two educators in the Moniteau district had.

Jim Willison, a technology education teacher, and Wade Vogan, a counselor, plan to incorporate their new knowledge in the school’s new engineering-based curriculum, they said. The new curriculum will teach students three-dimensional drawing in a more project-based style, Willison said.

For Vogan, the training has helped him know what students can expect if they are considering entering a trade career, he said. With this knowledge, Vogan said he can work to get more of the students who do not want to pursue a college degree into careers right out of school.

Sara Lang, a career counselor for the South Butler School District, said she is happy to know what students will be doing in the manufacturing careers.

Lang plans to use the information she learned to see how new math skills can be implemented in the curriculum.

In fact, math and critical thinking skills are the two most important for a manufacturing career, Covert said.

The training also hopes to target a shifting workforce that may be putting a strain on American manufacturing. A large portion of trade workers are from the baby boomer generation, Covert said.

“Baby boomers are getting ready to retire,” he said.

There aren’t enough younger workers to replace those who will retire in the next few years, “let alone to grow a company. There aren’t enough numbers coming through the trades to meet the demand,” he said.

After the baby boomer generation, a lot of manufacturing jobs were sent overseas, meaning more students went to college instead of entering the trade workforce out of high school.

“These manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States, and now we need to swing back the other way,” Covert said.

This skills gap will put the pressure on employers to find enough new workers in the coming years.

Lang said, “So this is an opportunity for kids who don’t go to (a vocational school) to learn about the skill set (for manufacturing jobs).”

Penn United has a program for high school students called Students Acquiring Technical Skills that includes online work and trips to Penn United.

The program had roughly 65 students this school year, including students from Butler, Karns City, Moniteau and South Butler school districts and MHY Family Services, Covert said.

While there is overlap between students who attend Butler County Vocational-Technical School and take the technical skills course, the program is open to students typically in 11th and 12th grade.

Students who complete that course earn a competency certification from Penn United.