[caption id="" align="alignright" width="373"] Owen D. Young students Ryan Jordan, 15, left, and Richard Herron, 16, operate Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES welding simulators at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute Manufacturing Expo on Oct. 16. SUBMITTED PHOTO[/caption]

Owen D. Young students Richard Herron, 16, and Ryan Jordan, 15, visited many of the more than 60 local exhibitors at this year's SUNY Polytechnic Institute Manufacturing Expo, including using the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES welding simulators.

“It's pretty cool,” Herron said, of having so many businesses at the event. “It's a great way to find out what you're interested in.”

Jordan also said he liked that there were plenty of manufacturing companies to visit with.

“We can find out what we'd like to do in the future,” he said.

Herkimer BOCES had a large presence at the Expo on Oct. 16 with the welding simulators station, an exhibit for the new Valley Pathways in Technology Early College High School and students in attendance from Herkimer BOCES career and technical education programs, VP-TECH, Pathways Academy at Remington and seven Herkimer BOCES component school districts.

The Herkimer BOCES School-to-Careers program aims to introduce students to local businesses and career options and arranged for many of the students in the Herkimer BOCES area to attend the event.

“I'm hoping that students across the region are able to be exposed to jobs and careers that are not traditionally what they would think of,” said Christopher Groves, director of the School-to-Careers program. “Students are getting connections with people directly in the industry. I think those connections — regardless of the students' grade level — are essential.”

Groves said he liked the setup for this year's event because of its increased focus on exhibitors and tours.

“This year's template seems to be more interactive and more student-oriented where students can have more hands-on activities with the partner businesses,” he said.

Frankfort-Schuyler student Phillip Rusev, 12, who also tried out the Herkimer BOCES welding simulators, said he thought the Manufacturing Expo was “great.”

“There's a lot of stuff to see,” he said. “It's interesting.”

When VP-TECH Principal Brittany DerCola prepared the VP-TECH exhibit at the event, she didn't plan to have students with her at the station — instead allowing all of them to visit the businesses in attendance. Some of the students, however, voluntarily spent much of the time at the station talking proudly about VP-TECH, and it gave them a chance to practice presentation skills and the ability to talk to people, DerCola said.

“I'm impressed with what they're doing,” she said.

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