MANSFIELD — About a dozen middle schoolers gained skills and learned about careers in defense manufacturing at the “Building Giants” Submarine Manufacturing Camp.
The two-week camp was the first of its kind sponsored by Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs and BlueForge Alliance. Mansfield City Schools hosted the camp for rising 7th-9th graders.
Students toured local companies Gorman-Rupp, Warren Rupp and Stoneridge Inc, all of which play a part in supplying the Submarine Industrial Base. On July 19, students demonstrated their own submersibles in the Malabar Intermediate School’s pool.
Brandon Green, who works in workforce development for BlueForge Alliance, said the tours and camp activities expand the participants’ knowledge of the industrial supply chain.
BlueForge is a nonprofit integration partner to the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base.
“There are several submarine industrial base suppliers in this area, and a lot of the kids don’t know that, so it’s fun to see them learn that and apply it by making their own submarines,” Green said.
The students were split into groups of three to design their own submersibles using PVC pipe, circuit wiring, toggle switches, a propeller and floaties.
Serenity Jaynes, a student in the camp, said she realized the toggle switches on her team’s submarine were difficult to maneuver.
“I would try to make it easier for the submarine to go forward,” she said. “The controls made that a little hard, only the vertical motor would work for us.”
“It’s really cool seeing them so engaged in problem solving,” Green said. “One group had a floater that was coming off, so they talked about a way to fix that.
“They realize by the final assembly everything that went into it, which is applicable to the workforce … the engineer’s job goes to the welder, which goes to painters and assemblers.”
Liam McCumiskey, soon-to-be 8th grader at Spanish Immersion, said soldering the electronics together was probably the most difficult part of the build process for his team.
“We got the wires criss-crossed and had to backtrack that a bit,” he said. “If we had more time, I would want to think about redoing the motherboard.”
Mansfield ‘Building Giants’ camp first of its kind
Cindy Day, senior manager for the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs Foundation of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, said the “Building Giants” camp was the first of its kind.
“We support manufacturing camps all over the country, but this is the very first one that is focused on building awareness of career options in submarine manufacturing,” she said.
Green said that BlueForge Alliance is focusing on outreach to students sometimes as young as second or third grade.
“As you look down 10 or 15 years, the number of skilled workers that we’ll need in the submarine industrial base is more than 100,000, so you’ve got to help them cast a vision early,” he said.
Ed Dernulc, FMA foundation director, said Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs hopes to host multiple camps with BuildSubmarines in different cities.
“What you’re seeing in the industry is more technology advancing,” he said. “I think you’re going to see people programming a robot to weld a part rather than basic welding across the next 10 or 20 years.
“So it’s great to teach these students how to do that in these coding and robotics camps. And this facility in Mansfield is fantastic. You don’t see this kind of setup at most high schools, they’ve invested heavily in their career tech.”
In addition to building submarines, the students also crafted flower stencils and planes with a plasma cutter at Mansfield Senior High School’s career tech welding lab.
Starting this fall, Mansfield City Schools will expand career tech opportunities to middle school students, offering exploratory classes like haircutting and manufacturing.
Nikia Fletcher, MCS director of career and college readiness, said the hands-on classes paired with manufacturing tours aim to increase the students’ awareness of job opportunities.
“Some of the kids here are interested in construction, we’ve got a few in computer science and one interested in culinary as well,” she said. “They’re coming from all over.
“A lot of kids don’t know what the high school has to offer until they come here, so this is one of the examples of how we’re getting them to explore their options before they get to high school. The more they learn earlier, the more well-rounded they’ll be.”
Building Giants camp
Students participating in the camp demonstrated electronic submersibles, practiced welding with spray cheese and crackers, and cut and painted steel flowers and planes.
