STEM camps focus on 'molding kids for success'

Greensboro, N.C.-based Core Technology Molding Corp. is hosting STEM camps for middle-school children with a wide look at what it takes to produce injection molded parts for the pharmaceutical and automotive markets.

Called Molding Kids for Success, the weeklong camp presents some unique STEM subjects for fifth- through eighth-graders, including materials, additives, 3D printing, clean room molding, supply chain management and technical writing. The heady topics are presented in fun, hands-on ways using bouncing polyurethane balls, nylon string and polyethylene golf tees with recycled content from the mesh fencing of a Dow Inc. charity golf event.

The goal is to introduce students to the plastics industry at young ages — in this case, 11- to 14-year-olds — so manufacturing will be among their early career considerations, according to Core Technology CEO and President Geoff Foster.

Founded in 2006 by Foster, Core Technology specializes in close-tolerance optical and precision parts for medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, automotive interiors, heavy trucks and more.

Sales were up 300 percent in 2021 compared with the previous year, with continued growth related to demand for vaccine components like plunger rods and new growth related to parts orders for Volvo sedans and SUVs and Mack trucks.

"Business is unbelievable right now," Foster said in a phone interview. "We saw 300 percent growth last year. We doubled our capacity. We built a second clean room."

Core Technology also plans to add 10 employees to the current workforce of 40 by the end of the year. Strengthening the talent pipeline is important to the company and state.

The first students to attend the MKFS camps are from low-income neighborhoods of Greensboro. The city of 299,000 — the state's third largest — has been attracting new business like Toyota's $1.3 billion battery plant. But an estimated 18.5 percent of residents live at or below the poverty line.

Core Technology's campers get laptops to use for the week, instruction from industry experts including Dow and catered lunches, this summer courtesy of resin supplier Chase Plastic Services Inc.

"We're reaching out to touch the underrepresented kids who can't afford STEM camps," Foster said. "A high percent of them are from low-income areas. Unfortunately, for some, the lunch is their best meal of the day."

The student campers do well in science, technology and math at school and are ready to be introduced to the industry, according to Foster, who also has been an adjunct professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for 18 years.

"They just need some guidance and exposure," Foster said.

Core Technology's boardroom gives MKFS instructors and campers 1,000 square feet of space for experiments.

"Then we take them out on the manufacturing floor, and that's what is unique about what we're doing," Foster said. "Beyond experiments, we're giving them gear and they're doing clean room molding to experience a Class 10,000 facility."

In addition to two clean rooms, Core Technology is an ISO 14001 facility, which is certified for environmental management systems. The certification maps out a framework for a company to follow to minimize how its operations affect the environment in terms of air pollution, water and sewage issues, waste management, soil contamination, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and resource use and efficiency.

"The students care about that," Foster said. "They want a better planet for themselves and their kids. That's one thing we're instilling. You can have a direct impact on the environment and this industry."

For another manufacturing lesson, students used recycled material to make golf tees for Dow's next golf event.

"They get to see additives mixed together and some regrind put back into the process for sustainability," Brandon Frederick, MKFS camp instructor and Core Technology project engineer, said in a phone interview.

Students also learned about separating the hydrogen component from water, heat transfer, 3D printing, supply chains and operations. Their feedback has been positive.

"I'm really heartened by the student testimonials," Foster said. "They're saying this camp is the best they have attended and it will help them make career decisions earlier. It was a piece of the puzzle they didn't have."

He likes what he is seeing, too, in terms of the campers' levels of confidence and self-esteem.

"By the end of the week, some students are different people," Foster said. "They had the book knowledge, but now they have the confidence that they can speak intelligently and scientifically. That's a challenge when they go to school with students not necessarily on STEM paths. Here, they can be themselves. They can talk intelligently and be applauded vs. being picked on."

The next MKFS camp will be attended by female middle-school students with women master molders from RJG leading the effort.

The sooner students hone in on a career choice, the sooner they can set a course path to it and the sooner they can graduate to fill the many job openings.

A lot of businesses are flocking to North Carolina that will need skilled workers. Toyota is building a $1.3 billion vehicle battery plant that will employ about 1,750. Also, Apple is investing $1 billion in a campus that will create 3,000 jobs in emerging fields like machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Businesses locating to and expanding in North Carolina announced 24,000 new jobs and investments exceeding $10.1 billion in 2021. State officials want to do all they can to prepare up-and-coming professionals.

North Carolina officials are aware of the MKFS camp and have requested it be extended.

"We planned for this to be a summer camp, but the state has asked us to make it year-round," Frederick said. "We're trying to find out what the resources look like for that."

The camp launched this year with almost $50,000 of donations to Molding Kids For Success. Two of the backers, Greensboro Housing Authority and Welfare Reform Liaison Project Inc., donated $30,000. The authority offers affordable housing through public vouchers and supports programs that help residents develop job skills.