FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2025 Contact: laurim@imcpa.com 570-329-3200 “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” Video Contest Announces 2025 Central Susquehanna Awards CENTRAL PA – The Innovative Manufacturers' Center (IMC), Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, Advance Central PA and The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce are proud to announce the award recipients for the "What's So Cool About Manufacturing?" (WSCM) Central Susquehanna student video contest awards. The ceremony was held April 23rd at The Venue at Liberty Valley in Danville, PA. The WSCM contest partners students from middle schools in Central PA with regional manufacturers. Each student team scripted, shot, edited and promoted a short video that documents their experience highlighting what is “cool” about manufacturing and manufacturing careers. Two videos in the region will be moving on to represent Central Susquehanna at the annual statewide competition being held in Harrisburg on May 14th at the Whitaker Center. The video with the most votes, during three days of online voting in March, received the “Viewers’ Choice Award.” A panel of judges reviewed the videos for awards in three other categories including Outstanding Overall Program, Outstanding Team Spirit and Outstanding Brand Placement. "We had a really great contest this year with students and their manufacturing partners working together to highlight what’s so cool about manufacturing in Central PA. In our fifth year of this contest, we had a record number of votes for the Viewers’ Choice award of over 104,000 votes,” said Lauri Moon, Manager of Outreach & Special Projects with IMC and Co-manager of the Central Susquehanna contest. "The students, teachers and manufacturers put in so much hard work, and it definitely showed in their final videos." “One of the goals of the program is to increase awareness of local manufacturing career opportunities. With the record breaking number of votes during the contest, I think we met our goal,” said Erica Mulberger, Advance Central PA Executive Director. This year’s awards and their winners are: 1. Outstanding Overall Program: Mount Carmel Area Middle School & Dyco, Inc. 2. Viewers’ Choice Award: Central Columbia Middle School & Strong Industries 3. Outstanding Team Spirit: Huntingdon Area Middle School & Gardners Candies, Inc. 4. Outstanding Brand Placement: Bloomsburg Area Middle School & GAF Congratulations to the Mount Carmel Area Middle School/Dyco, Inc. and Huntingdon Area Middle School & Gardners Candies, Inc. teams who were nominated to move on to the statewide competition in Harrisburg next month. Central Columbia Middle School/Strong Industries will also be attending by special invitation. Figure 1. Outstanding Overall Program & Outstanding Brand Placement: Mount Carmel Area Middle School Figure 2.Outstanding Team Spirit: Huntingdon Area Middle School Figure 3. Viewers’ Choice Award: Central Columbia Middle School & Strong Industries Partnering on this regional contest is the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center, Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, Advance Central PA and The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce. Funding for the 2025 Central Susquehanna program was made possible by these organizations and EITC, PA Department of Labor & Industry Business & Education and ARC/Degenstein Foundation grants. Awards were generously created and donated by SUN Area Technical Institute. To check out this year’s Central Susquehanna What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? videos, visit https://www.whatssocool.org/contests/central-susquehanna/. Visit WhatsSoCool.org for more information and follow on Facebook.com/WSCMCenSusq. -###- About “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing”: The WSCM program is a video based educational tool that increases awareness of career paths in manufacturing. This innovative career awareness program, at its core, is "peer marketing" (kids telling kids what's so cool about manufacturing jobs). This contest gives students the opportunity to connect with local manufacturers, document their experiences and present them in an educational and “cool” way. The contest was created to generate excitement that draws students towards manufacturing career paths and CTE and STEM education. For more information, visit whatssocool.org. About Innovative Manufacturer's Center (IMC) Founded in 1988, the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center assists in connecting manufacturers in 12 Pennsylvania counties with the most effective regional, state and national resources to help them innovate, grow and prosper. IMC is supported through the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Industrial Resource Center program. IMC serves manufacturers in Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Union, Snyder, Clinton, Centre, Mifflin, Juniata, Huntington, Blair and Bedford Counties. About Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit The Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) is a regional education service agency that prides itself on serving the needs of schools, students, families and communities. CSIU's many programs and services reflect our mission to provide quality education services that help students learn, support teachers in bringing best practices to the classroom, and offer valuable services to school districts. The CSIU's primary service area consists of Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties in central Pennsylvania which includes 17 school districts, 3 career and technical centers, and 69 nonpublic schools. About The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce Since its inception in 1996, The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce has evolved, remaining focused on goals which can be summed up in its mission statement: “Working together, the educators and employers of Columbia and Montour counties will ensure that lifelong learners obtain the academic, technical, and employability skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century workplace.” Through The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, educators and employers in Columbia and Montour counties work together to provide educational opportunities for the purpose of workforce development. Our educational programs focus on K-12 students as well as continuing education for adults. About Advance Central PA Incorporated in 1999, Advance Central PA is a non-profit organization designated as the local workforce development board (WDB) under the US Department of Labor Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The Central PA WDB governs the workforce development system for Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, and Union counties. Advance Central PA supports programs in six PA CareerLink® offices, local school districts, and throughout the community that are designed to assure that businesses in Central Pennsylvania remain competitive and grow jobs, that students and workers have opportunities to obtain skills that will help them become or remain self-sufficient, and that our communities are economically resilient.
