Technician partnered Monday with the Institute for Emerging Issues to present a student-focused forum called ManufacturingWorks@NCState, an event that discussed the resurgence of manufacturing in the state and its impact on our economy, education system and future.

The event came about after Technician published a critical editorial of the Institute’s Emerging Issues Forum that was held in downtown Raleigh in February and attracted hundreds of industry leaders, educators and politicians. 

The problem — among the sea of old men in suits — was the lack of student engagement. Sure, manufacturing may seem like a hard thing to dress up into a sexy field, but its renaissance in North Carolina is bringing steady, high-paying jobs and genuinely cool companies. 

After reading our editorial, the Institute’s leadership reached out to Technician and proposed a student forum. I jumped at the opportunity, and I am very satisfied with student turnout and participation in Monday’s forum. Thank you to all who attended, and many thanks to the panelists — all alumni in the industry — who came to talk.  

Luckily, manufacturing is not the problem we’re discussing, but its revival presents challenges our generation will have to confront. Though I am not an engineer — I study Spanish and biological sciences and am slated to go to dental school next year — I found the event to be informative and interesting. 

We all hold a stake in this: Every manufacturing job brings in five others in service or supply-chain industries. Even the products we are making now are fascinating. One of our panelists, Meghan McCann, works in biotechnology and is producing vaccines and antibodies from cell cultures. Chris Clearman, an alum in industrial design, works for GoPro, a leader in wearable camera equipment. 

These companies contrast with what manufacturing used to be like. No longer is North Carolina a textiles, tobacco and furniture state. And luckily, through a public emphasis on education, research and development, our state has been able to withstand economic ruin and progress since the failure of these industries. 

After the event, many of the students and faculty who participated requested to do an event like this again. I am open to suggestions and would like to continue informing and engaging students in matters that affect us all.