Students Are the Future

Students are the future. They are our future leaders, teachers, inventors, soldiers, doctors, and automation professionals. They are our greatest resource and asset for the future of automation and manufacturing.

The Automation Federation helped the Piedmont Triad Partnership (PTP) organize the first Technology Career Days event for high school students in the twelve counties comprising the Piedmont Triad region in North Carolina, which took place 24 -25 March. Read the press release.

This event provided high school students the opportunity to learn more about careers in the automation profession and technology fields. They were presented with hands-on exhibits that offered information to help them better understand the importance of Math and Science in these fields.

These efforts are vital to creating the next generation of automation professionals, but we are forgetting a very important element: The “WHY.” Another important message we must convey to our students is that it’s not just about math and science.

We have to stop saying IF you are good at math and science and IF you get good grades, you can be an engineer. We don’t supply any “why” in that statement.

Why not say something like this:

• “Want to cure cancer? Don’t become a doctor. They manage the disease. Engineers will find the cure.”
• “Want to save the environment? Become an engineer. They will invent and implement the technology to reduce pollution and to clean our water and soil.”
• “Want to reduce humanity’s carbon imprint? Become an engineer. They will invent the next generation of energy saving technologies and new forms of clean fuel, and make them economical to use.”
• “If you really want to make an impact, get into automation—humankind in the modern world will not give up the luxuries we’ve come to count on like clean water, reliable power and energy, and all the goods and services that make life convenient. Automation of factories and facilities will make this possible as the population grows, resources are depleted, and demand increases.”

Youth today dreams of a better world, these dreams need to be engineered. We need our best and brightest to recognize that solutions don’t lie with Wall Street or in the courts; they lie in the innovation and application of science and technology.

I’ve said this before, but this message is so important, I’ll say it again:

The earlier and more often we introduce automation and technology to young scholars—and the “why” behind it—the better we will be able to help these students start out on the road to achieving a rewarding career in automation profession and technology fields.

I am asking my fellow automation professionals to take time to mentor a student, participate in a technology event for students, or anything else they can do to help get students interested in a career in this vital profession.

-Kim
AF Chair