This month, Adriana Cruz, President of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, shared a plethora of economic development secrets that she has learned over the course of her career. One event that she’s particularly proud of is their National Manufacturing Day celebration that was so successful that it was converted into a month-long celebration.

San Marcos has had a manufacturing association for 35 years and this past year we partnered with them and really helped to provide administrative support so that the manufacturing association could continue to be a vibrant part of our business community. And one of the things that we wanted to do in October was to really celebrate manufacturing day and to highlight manufacturing as a career opportunity for some of our local kids in high school and middle school. And we know that manufacturing jobs are good paying, quality jobs. Sometimes parents may not be thrilled to hear their child wants to pursue manufacturing as a career. They may have some perception of what manufacturing is and so we really wanted to show the kids and give them an insider’s look at what a manufacturing job could be.

So we worked across the region. We had manufacturers in Buda, Kyle and San Marcos work with high school students and middle school students and open up their doors and provide tours. So on Manufacturing Day, we had some proclamations by the city and the county and then, I think on Manufacturing Day, we had one group of tours and then we had other tours throughout October. And really, kudos to the manufacturers for working with the kids and opening their doors and really preparing a presentation and giving them a tour and showing them what they do and what it is that they make and what impact it has, not just on the community, but some of the manufacturers are global operations. And so their products are shipped around the world.

And so really just opening those doors and opening these kids eyes. And particular for the middle school students, that’s when they start to take classes that affect their high school and where their career is going to go. And so, really encouraging the middle school students to focus on stem classes so that they can be better prepared, so that they could go work at CFAN or Mensor or Thermon or one of our manufacturers here.

To listen to the full episode of the podcast, use the player below: