Oshkosh North students learn about manufacturing careers

OSHKOSH(WLUK) — Some Oshkosh North high school students got an early glimpse into some potential careers.

"This really gave students exposure to all aspects of business," said Julie Mosher with the Oshkosh School District.

During this year long project, called Project GRILL, the manufacturing and welding class teamed up with Oshkosh Corporation.

"They have really enjoyed being a part of working with Oshkosh Corporation and the executives, the engineers there" said Patti Andresen-Shew with the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, "They felt like they learned a lot, it's been a real growth experience."

The students involved, refer to themselves as the Spartan Manufacturing team.

"At the beginning we were kind of rough with the teamwork, all of us different people, different friends. We overcame that and obviously came out with a good product," Evan Munsey, an Oshkosh North Junior said.

But the focus wasn't just on the manufacturing side of things.

Oshkosh Corporation introduced the students to every department.

"Their engineering staff, their finance marketing staff, working with them to have them understand what it would take to produce a product," said Andresen-Shew.

"We brought in some of our finance personnel, we had our Jill Seidel from HR interview them for different positions and Katie Hoxtell from marketing so each one of the different segments has come in and educated the students on exactly what we do at Oshkosh Corporation and then try to reflect that within this project," said Michael Peotter, Associate Design Engineer at Oshkosh Corporation.

And the student's final project, resembled what Oshkosh Corporation makes every day.

"When you go from looking at something that's 3-D modeled or a paper sketch of a concept and then to always see the finish product, it's pretty rewarding," said Peotter.

Giving students a glimpse into potential careers.

"In the Fox Valley, the big areas of economic growth are manufacturing, IT and aviation and so right here within this we highlighted two major areas of economic development," Mosher said.

The school district says it plans to expand Project GRILL at Oshkosh North next year and perhaps branch out to other high schools in the Oshkosh area.