FREDERICKTOWN — Caleb Lamb’s love of electricity was sparked at an early age by a father who went back to school to become a high-voltage electrical engineer.
“My dad is kind of the greatest inspiration for my chosen pathway for electrical engineering, and I just love electricity,” Lamb said.
“I love learning about it, I love making the circuits, and I love reading the diagrams. I just really love everything about it.”
Last week, Fredericktown schools formally launched a program that fans that spark into a flame.
The Engineering and Manufacturing Academy provides students with the opportunity to explore a career pathway other than traditional college.
A $185,000 grant from Batelle funds the manufacturing program. The program simulates a work environment to help prepare students for life after high school.
“With the amateur program, it allows me to learn more about circuits and circuitry and how to hook that up. It’s kind of given me a refresher on some of the things I already knew from past engineering classes,” Lamb said.
“It’s allowed me to build on that electrical knowledge. That way, when I go to college for electrical engineering, I’ll have a good foundation on knowledge that I’ll be able to apply for my degree.”
The Fredericktown senior plans to earn his associate’s degree in electrical engineering.
“Then I want to get a job as a high-voltage electrical engineer, more than likely for an engineering company or energy company like my dad’s doing. Interning somewhere, maybe Energy Co-op,” he said.
Filling a need
“It’s projected that by 2030 we need to fill 4,300 new manufacturing positions,” Fredericktown High School Principal Ryan Shoemaker said.
However, Vice President David Alley of Schafer Driveline said there is a talent shortfall.
“For us, the biggest way to close that gap is you have to start getting some employees at that entry level that you can start getting a feel for that employee — their work ethic, their attitude — to see if they’re the kind of employee that you want to develop and invest your time in,” the Fredericktown alum said in a promotional video for the program.
Shoemaker said the program is “a direct response” to the shortfall challenge.
Fredericktown student Reese Hanson said watching Kokosing as a youth ignited his interest in manufacturing.
“I just knew I wanted to be part of this manufacturing and engineering side of things,” he said. “It makes me really happy and looking forward to my future instead of being worried that there won’t be a place for me.”
The goal is a vocational school-style format beginning in a student’s junior year. Students will take four sequential engineering courses, all worth college credit. They can also take college electives such as environmental engineering, college algebra, and computer science.
Jessica Webb, Fredericktown’s engineering and manufacturing teacher, said students thrive because the academy is hands-on.
“They’re building circuits, they’re creating 3D models with 3D printing, or getting real-life projects from the Village of Fredericktown,” she said.
Fredericktown student Nicholas LeFevre said he likes the hands-on aspect.
“I like how there’s a lot of open thinking. You can come up with your own ways to solve things,” he said. “There’s really no right or wrong answer.”
Transforming brain drain into brain trust
More than 20 years ago, former Supt. Dan Humphrey identified a challenge many rural communities face: brain drain, where graduates leave home in search of opportunity and never return.
“Mr. Humphrey’s vision was bold and forward thinking: to transform that brain drain into a brain trust by encouraging our students to pursue STEM careers right here in Fredericktown, which allowed our homegrown talent to learn, grow, and remain local while strengthening the community that they call home,” Supt. Gary Chapman said.
Humphrey’s vision led to a Project Lead the Way STEM grant. The grant laid the foundation for middle and high school engineering coursework.
In 2023, the district shifted its attention to STEM opportunities for younger learners. It created a dedicated STEAM classroom for K-5 students.
In January 2025, Chapman received an email about applying for the manufacturing pathways grant.
After what he said was probably “a far too quick review of the grant criteria,” Chapman told Shoemaker to “get your team together and let’s go after it.”
“They worked tirelessly, driven by passion, driven by collaboration, and a growing vision of what this space here could become,” Chapman said. “The result is the space that we celebrate here today.”
Humphrey never envisioned that his efforts would turn into what the school offers today.
“It’s just exciting to see the enthusiasm the students have as well as the staff,” he said. “The opportunities that the kids are going to have, and the support of community for manufacturing.”
After graduating, Lamb hopes to stay in the area.
“We have most of our family around here, so I’d like to stay close to family and our farm that we have out in the country that I grew up on,” he said.
Celebrating partnerships, strengthening relationships
A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 27 formally opened the Engineering and Manufacturing Academy.
Shoemaker thanked the school’s industry partners, including Schafer Drive Line, which saved the district $10,000 by donating equipment tables, and FT Precision, Ariel, Kokosing, UMD, and the Divelbiss Corp.
“Your willingness to open up your facilities to our students, to our staff, your partnership through this process has been invaluable,” he said.
“Receiving this grant has allowed us to work more closely with you, and we look forward to doing that more in the future. These relationships are already making this program better. They will continue to benefit our students for years to come.”
As much as he appreciates the industry partners, Shoemaker said educators are the heart of the program.
“As a principal, I feel incredibly fortunate every day to come in here where I get to work with educators who are willing to take on additional training and learn new skills for the betterment and benefit of our students,” he said.
Shoemaker said Battelle provided implementation, communications, and marketing support.
“We’re a small, traditional, public high school. We’re in a manufacturing-rich county, where about 25 percent of the county works in a manufacturing-related field,” he said.
“I think they believed in our vision for providing a career pathway that’s going to provide our kids with the credentials, the hands-on skills that they’re going to need to fill those jobs.”
Chapman told the elected officials and policymakers present that their support of public education matters more than they know.
He also recognized the “incredible leadership of Fredericktown Schools Board of Education. … Their vision, their courage, their commitment to our students are reflected in everything we are celebrating here today.”
