ERIE, Pa. — When his lab partner lifted the top off their sandcasting mold, revealing four perfect smiley-face depressions, each the size of a sand dollar, Cameron Chodubski couldn’t help but smile himself.
“That’s jaw-dropping,” Cameron, 6, said.
Then came the really cool — or rather, really hot — part: The instructor, Hannah Kemmet, a senior in the industrial engineering program at Penn State Behrend, poured molten metal — tin, heated to 480 degrees — into a hole at the top of the mold.
A few minutes later, the students, wearing safety glasses and protective gloves, opened the molds and popped out solid metal medallions.
Cameron was apprehensive about that part. But he was surprised to find the metal cool enough to handle with gloves.
“I was nervous I was going to burn myself,” he said, “but it wasn’t hot, just heavy.”
Cameron was one of 10 students in Kemmet’s “Made in America” summer course, a weeklong class at Penn State Behrend’s College for Kids. Kemmet developed the curriculum with Paul C. Lynch, an associate professor of engineering, to introduce youth between the ages of 6 and 8 to metallurgy and forging.
The class was part of the Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship and Learning program, or METAL, which seeks to modernize the U.S. metals industry by addressing the skills gap and ensuring a strong defense supply chain. The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, is part of a $4.4 million investment in workforce development in the metals sector.
Faculty members at Behrend and at Penn State’s University Park campus are collaborating on the METALS initiative, which includes workshops and K-12 outreach events, hands-on manufacturing “boot camps,” and certificate and apprenticeship programs.
Cameron is still years away from choosing a career, but he elected to take the “Made in America” class.
“I picked it myself,” he said. “I thought it sounded cool.”
The course was designed to appeal to youth with dynamic, hands-on lessons. Students explored 3D printing and sandcasting and even poured their own chocolate treats.
At the end of the week, parents were invited into the lab, where students displayed their projects and showcased the skills they learned — small creations, perhaps, but forged with big ideas.