Intermediate student videos earn awards
After visiting manufacturing companies in East Butler and Cranberry Township, students at Butler Intermediate High School put together videos detailing how the companies do what they do for the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing contest.
One group of seventh- and eighth-graders received the Best Manufacturing Message award for its video on MECCO, a laser equipment supplier in Cranberry Township.
The other group from the school earned the Viewers Choice award and Best Overall Video for their piece on JSP, an automotive and construction supplier in East Butler.
Breit Cochran, an eighth-grade history teacher at the school, said the Best Overall Video award means the team that made the video on JSP will go on to the state competition May 15 in Harrisburg.
“This is our fourth time going to states, and hopefully this is the year we bring it home,” Cochran said. “We go out there, do our best.”
The What’s So Cool about Manufacturing contest was created in 2013 by the Manufacturers Resource Center in Allentown. Each year, students from around the state learn and create videos about a local manufacturer to demonstrate why they are important.
According to Cochran, the students had been working on their videos since November. Each team visited one of the manufacturers, spoke with their administrators and staff, and then came back to record video demonstrating what they do in their jobs.
The brief videos were showcased for the regional competition, and, in addition to being judged by the center, viewers could vote on their favorite video for the Viewers Choice award.
Cochran said the students did a good job on their videos, as they have for the past several years they have entered the contest.
“They do the interviews and get the action, worked on it through November, December and January,” Cochran said. “The kids did a great job; they took things in a direction I would never think of.”
