YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Organizers for an upcoming career day for the manufacturing industry are seeking additional exhibitors as a registration deadline approaches this week.
The second edition of the I-Create Manufacturing Career Day and Industry Showcase is set for Oct. 17 at the Robert W. Plaster Center for Advanced Manufacturing on the campus of Ozarks Technical Community College. Space is still available to any manufacturer wanting to participate, and there is no fee for exhibitors, according to a news release.
“We are excited to make this year’s event bigger than the first year by increasing the number of exhibitors at I-Create,” said Michael Eaton, director of the Missouri Association of Manufacturers, in the release. “We are currently seeking companies interested in showing hundreds of area high school students the opportunities a career in manufacturing offers.”
Roughly 20 exhibitors, including Custom Metalcraft Inc., Paul Mueller Co. and Vital Farms, were among participants at the inaugural event in 2022, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Missouri Job Center spokesperson Katherine Proctor said the first I-Create drew attendance of roughly 600 high school students from a 12-county region. The goal is to have at least 500 students this year, she said, adding high schools from Springfield, Blue Eye, Mount Vernon, Ozark and West Plains are among those signed up to attend.
“Due to scheduling conflicts, it proved to be difficult to get everyone’s schedule to match up for an event, so we decided to skip a year and put our time and effort into creating a great event for 2024,” she said via email, regarding I-Create not being held in 2023. “We are planning for this to become an annual event.”
The deadline to reserve exhibitor space for this year’s event is Friday. To register or for more information, email i-create@otc.edu.
I-Create is a collaborative effort between MAM, Ozarks Tech, the city of Springfield, Missouri Job Center and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, according to the release.
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