Area Students to Visit Campus March 25 for Shipbuilding, Repair and Maritime Career Day
March 14, 2013
On Monday, March 25, the floor of Old Dominion University's Ted Constant Convocation Center will be filled with the enthusiastic sounds of more than 1,300 local middle and high school students.
They're coming to campus for the annual Shipbuilding, Repair and Maritime Career Day, sponsored by ODU's Lean Manufacturing and Enterprise Institute, and the International Society of Agile Manufacturing. The daylong event is designed to inform students about opportunities for a challenging, rewarding and stable career right here in Hampton Roads, in the region's thriving shipbuilding and ship repair industries.
Through hands-on activities, students will be able to experience important maritime processes such as 3-D shipbuilding, pipe fitting, rigging, welding, precision drilling and other skills that are in demand.
The event will also feature tours of Colonna's Shipyard and BAE Systems' Norfolk Ship Repair facility, where students and their teachers can see an actual shipyard in action and learn how the skills they observe translate to the real world.
Lean Institute director Alok Verma, Ray Ferarri Professor of Engineering Management in ODU's Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, said studies have shown a need for workers in the skilled trade professions in the shipbuilding and ship repair industries. "This Career Day event, which teaches via hands-on activities and features an industry expo and guest speakers, will hopefully demonstrate to students, and their teachers, how important the shipbuilding, ship repair and maritime industry is to Hampton Roads," Verma said.
The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hard hats will be given out to participating students to promote safe practices in the maritime industries. Students who visit at least six booths will be entered to win door prizes, which include iPod shuffles.
For more information about the Career Day, contact Verma at averma@odu.edu.
ODU's Lean Manufacturing and Enterprise Institute was established to find solutions for issues related to enterprise productivity. The primary goals of the institute are to conduct research, design and develop training programs and conferences, and help organizations implement them. The institute works closely with industries in Hampton Roads to offer, develop and deliver specialized training programs.