STIHL Manufacturing Summer Camp finishes seventh year

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The seventh annual STIHL Manufacturing Technology Summer Camp was held on July 28, 2018 at the STIHL Inc. campus in Virginia Beach. 

The free camp was developed in collaboration with Dream It. Do It. Virginia to promote careers in modern manufacturing by giving high school students a hands-on experience in technology-based projects. Through an essay application process, 29 high school students — from Virginia Beach to Richwood, Ohio — were selected to participate.

During the four-day camp, students learned to build LED desk and dome lamps out of STIHL components. Participants worked in small teams to develop technical, production and budgeting skills to find the most efficient way to construct prototypes. Through this challenge, students completed every step of bringing a product to market from time studies and building electronics to marketing products to the judges. 

“At STIHL, we recognize the ongoing skilled trades gap in the United States and across the globe,” said Lorraine Wagner, director of manufacturing at STIHL Inc. “We believe by creating opportunities for students to learn about manufacturing, we grow awareness that will lead more young people to pursue these important skills-driven career paths.”

On the final day, five teams competed to determine the best process to manufacture and assemble as many lamps as possible in a short time period. Each member of the winning team received a scholarship of $1,000 from the Virginia Industry Foundation. 

"We wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for all of us. It was a team thing,” said Yosef Woods, a rising senior at Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake, Va. and member of the winning team, Team Bright. “Everyone had a job to do and stuck to the plan. We were very innovative, finding an easier way to manufacture our lamps and make our process more efficient.”

The 2018 winning team members from Team Bright — who built five desk lamps and five dome lamps — are:

• Yosef Woods, Deep Creek High School, Chesapeake, Va.
• Victoria Schilke, Grassfield High School, Chesapeake, Va.
• Eli Anderson, Hickory High School, Chesapeake, Va.
• Mason Zahn, Kellam High School, Virginia Beach, Va.
• Aniya Burnham, Landstown High School, Virginia Beach, Va.
• Kyler Brazukas, Princess Anne High School, Virginia Beach, Va.
• Coach John Foster, STIHL Inc., Virginia Beach, Va.
• Coach Aleric Sanders, STIHL Inc., Virginia Beach, Va.

The competition was judged by academic, corporate and community leaders. The 2018 judging panel included:

• Thomas Stout, dean of STEM at Tidewater Community College
• C. Patrick Koelling, Ph.D., associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech
• Wade Powell, Dale Carnegie education specialist at Infotec
• Paul Dockery, vice president of business development and marketing at Infotec
• Ernie Langevin, Tidewater operations manager at Industrial TurnAround Corp. (ITAC)