We Bonded!
Over 250 Michigan Tech students and 20 local manufacturers collide at the First Annual “Grand Traverse Region Day”.
It was an exciting day for our region, maybe even a pivotal moment where we head in a new direction with a new partnership to increase our intellectual capacity and prosperity for our great manufacturing region.
Special thanks to the masterminds of this effort, Casey Cowell and Lowell Gruman of Boomerang Catapult, Bill Myers of Thermavance and Brent Burns of Michigan Tech.
Months of strategy and prep-work paid huge dividends in the form of new relationships that were formed at the first annual Grand Traverse Region Day on the campus of Michigan Tech on Friday, September 21st.
A special committee that includes outstanding thought leaders and visionaries from our region coordinated this strategic event such as Boomerang Catapult, Grand Traverse Area Manufacturing Council, Traverse City Chamber of Commerce, 20 Fathoms, MTA and other great organizations.
Over 20 local companies made the 8+ hour journey to Michigan Tech’s campus to show the students that our beautiful region has great career opportunities and to help build a talent pipeline for our future. It was amazing to see the natural attraction that the students had for our region. The abundance of students resulted in lines formed at the booths of companies as they eagerly waited to learn more about what opportunities were offered by our local companies. The majority of the students that attended were native to our Grand Traverse Region was just icing on the cake for this great day.
Michigan Tech did an outstanding job advertising to their student body as students came prepared and were well aware of what the event was all about. Many of them had already researched the company profiles, websites and had questions ready to learn more about the opportunities. A variety of majors from EE, CS, ME, CE were in attendance which helped to feed the variety of needs from the local manufacturers. The discussions seemed to be fruitful as the lists of names and contact information for students to be contacted after the event were long.
Local companies that attended the event included – 20 Fathoms, Alco Tec, Atlas Space Operations, Boomerang-Catapult, Century, Electro Optics, Faurecia, Hagerty, Healthbridge, Inphastos, Interactive Aerial, Keen Technical, Munson Healthcare, Naveego, Promethiant, RJG Inc, RM Young, SMI, Star Cutter Company, TentCraft, Thompson Surgical.
In addition to the student event, our region’s special MTU committee had the opportunity to tour the campus and meet with Michigan Tech’s new President and department leaders. The leaders of our region and Michigan Tech were able to share visions and identify where collaboration would be mutually beneficial. In conclusion to the event an outstanding reception was held to finalize the networking and to discuss more casually what next steps we can take together. The vibe in the room seemed to be full of hope and enthusiasm to continue on this journey together.
Stay tuned for more details on next steps with building our relationship with Michigan Tech and what you can do to get involved.
Thanks to all of you that made the effort to go and to all of those who helped make this great day happen.
Jon Dreher – Executive Chairman | Grand Traverse Area Manufacturing Council
