Decatur High School launches its first “Manufacturing Day”Free Access

By Kady Martinez and Delaney Wilson

Students from Decatur High School’s Career and Technology Education (CTE) department visited an assortment of businesses around Decatur to explore local internships and career opportunities Friday, Oct. 18.

Decatur High School’s administration team and staff partnered with the Decatur Economic Development Corporation (DEDC) to create the first Decatur Manufacturing Day, showcasing the potential careers that can be found in these students’ hometown.

“There is opportunity in Decatur,” assistant principal Dusty Naumann said.“We’ve done something like this before, where we’ve gone around and just trying to get more students involved with the local businesses.”

Students first visited AeroBrigham that morning, where they were given an in-depth tour of how the company develops and operates their aircraft. Danny Brigham, an owner at BrighamAero, discussed the hiring process for aspiring aircraft maintenance and aviation professionals.

“The process starts with education,” Brigham said. “Education for maintenance being either military background, learn maintenance through the military or you can go to AMT (Aviation Maintenance Technician) school or A and P (Airframe and Powerplant) school, get a license to maintain aircraft and after that you get your first job wherever you can find your experience level.”

The visit allowed students to see the diverse array of industries Decatur has to offer as well as provide an option towards students interested in particular fields local to them.

“I liked it a lot. We learned a lot about companies that we didn’t know were in Decatur and what they offered and all that,” McPherson said. “To show kids a little bit about more jobs and maybe strike interest, they didn’t know before.”

The next stop showcased the opportunities offered at Entegris-POCO Materials, providing students a glimpse of what a career with the specialized material manufacturer could look like.

“I thought it was actually really good. I liked getting out there and being able to become hands-on with a lot of the different companies, and seeing what they do internally. It was just a really good way to see just exactly what they do day to day and how they work,” Decatur High School student Garrison Fay said. “I think it’s important because it helps the engineering kids to actually be able to see what maybe some of their future jobs could look like and what some of these companies do behind the scenes.”

Entegris-POCO Materials Business Development Manager Tommy Miner explained how a new hire can grow with the company.

“Entegris is big on promoting from within,” Miner said. “So we do hire people straight out of college but they’re going to be in certain programs like your customer service, which is a good place to really learn everything.”

Entry level positions and mentorships are available at Entegris and POCO. The company boasts a rotational program where employees rotate through different locations to gain diverse experience. 

“At some levels, it’s designed around moving into a more advanced technical position and some of the rotations are more focused on management.” Operations Manager, Patrick Pulvino, said.

While touring Entegris and POCO Graphite, students were given a tour of the facility’s operations.

“Manufacturing Day was definitely life changing. It showed me that there was a lot of opportunities in Decatur to pursue careers,” said Decatur student Emmanuel Cejudo Santos. “I think it’s just help cater students you know, realize their potential, or like their opportunities to presume like engineering career inside or outside Decatur.”

At Omega Research and Onyx Specialty Processing, a growing company according to several operation managers, students were given insight to various operations including plating processes, non-destructive testing, automation, anodizing and passivation. Operations Manager Austin Clark at Omega and Onyx oversees all performances within the company. 

“You can come in fresh out of high school with knowledge to your name and I will absolutely teach you how to do it, what to do and how to be successful,” Clark said. “We 100 percent want people who are very driven.” 

The company plans to offer internship programs and training to high school students. President and General Manager of Omega and Onyx, Will Wantz, plans to teach students the company’s processes of each operation.

“We’re going to be doing prep stations where we have to take the metal and the parts we have to mask certain areas,” Wantz said. “We’ve got a lot of things we really want to get you guys involved with and use a lot of the people that are from the high school.”

At Aqualine Manufacturing Corp., students were shown how the company transports their parts across the world and the process of sending representatives to seek out buyers to purchase the products they ship. While there are currently no mentorship or internship programs in Texas, there is potential for such initiatives, especially during the busy summer season.

“We kind of train you in every single thing you would need to do the job that we hired you for,” said Aqualine employee Brittani Countryman. “Being that we are slowly getting more and more bigger at this Texas location, I could see where we would maybe bring in some summer part time jobs.”

The second-to-last stop at Industrial Diesel Inc. communicated to students the opportunities for advancement within the company to existing employees who were once former students. The company offers an apprenticeship program where new hires work alongside experienced staff to learn both safety and job skills.

“One of the things we want to work with the kids is starting off from the beginning and teaching them and training them and see what they kind of like, what they’re interested in,” said William Hayes of Industrial Diesel. “We would probably have them teamed up with one of our more experienced guys, so that they can learn how to, you know, be safe, of course. And then also learn how to do the job.”

Chris Stevens, general manager at Industrial Diesel and former Decatur High School student, reflects on how the shop program at the high school provided exposure to the mechanical world and shaped career paths.

“It was really the experiences I got through the program at Decatur High School that kind of opened up the possibility for me to end up where I am today,” Stevens said. “I’m very excited to see these students with the opportunity to get out into the community and realize what job opportunities are available and what careers are out there in their own community. 

As the general manager, Stevens is open to hiring local students to foster future generations in the industry. It has become valuable to him for students to see the industrial world and career prospects.

“Without the exposure, I don’t think that a lot of young people even know that the industries exist because it’s not exposure that they get through academia at school, and it’s not generally direction that they get pushed towards with even the school counselors and guidance counselors,” Stevens said. “It helps them to have an understanding of what’s available when they get out of high school.”

The final stop for students was Cardinal Paint, a company with a 52-year history, who expanded operations to Decatur in 2021. Cardinal Paint is still expanding, particularly in aerosol production.

Employees have opportunity for advancement through internal training programs, with promotions based on interest and performance.

“The opportunity that Cardinal offers is we, like the young folks coming out of high school, in fact I’m the one that does all the hiring, so we’re looking for folks that love to come on board,” plant manager Doc Dennis said. “We have opportunities for chemists, lab techs, all kinds of different things here at Cardinal, you know, we just have a lot of people come in just want to work a particular job and they’ve been here for twenty to thirty years.”

Cardinal is open to having students from various fields of interest, including paint and technical roles, to give them a foundational understanding of the industry. The initiative is aimed to teach students accuracy, competence with mathematics and provide a taste of what life may be for those interested in the technical industries.

“We want to approach the school about the possibility of actual interns through the year and bringing kids in that might be interested, and running them through the labs here, not necessarily in production because of the hazards out there,” Cardinal President John Mitchinson said. “We can give them a footing or an impression of what life would be in those types of industries and prepare them for that.”

Editor’s note: This story is the result of a collaboration between the Wise County Messenger, the Decatur High School journalism department and the Decatur Economic Development Corp. The Decatur EDC approached the Messenger about publishing the work of student reporters to build on the EDC’s push for DISD student involvement in the local business community. The Messenger is proud to feature the great work of student reporters Kady Martinez and Delaney Wilson on this assignment.