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Education and Training 28 MoldMaking Technology —— APRIL 2017 "Fortunately for us, one of our active committee members is a long-time veteran of moldmaking and a noted instructor in the Chicago area, Joe Genc," Petrucci says. "We were able to post the Moldmaking 302 course syllabuses that Joe created for the TMA, where he is an instructor, on our website, which provides an excellent overview of the trade, the training, course descriptions and overall performance expectations of apprentices." The materials are distributed at area high school and com- munity college career and job fairs, with members volunteer- ing their time and their apprentices' time to staff tabletops and booths. "No one hesitated when it was proposed that our apprentices become actively involved at events, as able," Petrucci says. "These 'student advocates,' as we call them, relate best with the young people and were particularly successful with engaging the hundreds of students that visited our booth in the Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS 2014." Time was short and expectations were high, she says, when Chicago AMBA learned there was a booth available at IMTS that year. "We mobilized the committee and every member faithfully executed his or her tasks, including having banners made, providing an injection mold to display with parts molded from it and a video showing it in action; plus, we had many other molded parts on display that were components for products the students could relate to. Apprentices staffed the booth with their bosses every day during that week-long event." Petrucci says the experience helped the education committee connect with schools it would otherwise never have communicated with, triggering new ideas for how to reach even more edu- cators and counselors. For example, in 2015, the Chicago chapter accelerated its efforts by hosting its first supplier night fundraiser, which Petrucci says garnered enthusiastic support from more than 35 exhibiting suppliers. Funds raised were earmarked for yet another new marketing initiative, an annual Careers in Advanced Manufacturing Educators' Symposium. At the symposium, more than 40 superintendents, teachers and school counselors were invited to learn about rewarding careers in mold manufacturing. Roundtable discus- sions were led by AMBA members, their apprentices, manufacturing instructors and others to provide attendees with more in-depth and personal perspectives about mold manufacturing, the demand for highly skilled workers, the earnings potential and more. The superintendent from Leyden High School District 212 (which has a successful manufactur- ing program) spoke and reinforced the importance of schools-based manufac- turing programs and described Leyden's success in building relationships with area businesses, such as A-1 Tool Corp.,