As a forerunner to the Feb. 4 Junior Achievement and Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Groundhog Day Job Shadowing for area high school students, 11 eighth grade students from South Effingham Middle School and school counselors Donna Kessler and Jeff Faith took part in the first ever middle school job shadowing program in Effingham County.  

Temcor hosted the program, starting with an orientation about the company history, job opportunities, wages and benefits presented by Leland Sanders, vice president of manufacturing.

The orientation was followed by a plant tour presented by Temcor’s production supervisor, Brian Jenkins.  After the tour the students paired up with Jenkins, shipping supervisor Mat Carmichael, and quality control analyst Hollis Story, and a number of Temcor production and shipping employees to learn about working in a fast paced, state-of -the art, high technology manufacturing environment.  They received an eye opening experience ranging from general laborer duties, to computer numerically controlled machinery operations, to what it actually takes to supervise a workforce in a 95,000 square foot, multi-million dollar facility.

Throughout the day Temcor staff reinforced the necessity to finish high school, stressing the importance of mathematics, English and literature, history and every other aspect of education required to become a successful full time employee in just about any work environment.  The students were also encouraged to consider participating in the Georgia Youth Apprenticeship Program starting the second semester of their junior year and to take advantage of the dual enrollment technical education opportunities offered in the high schools by Savannah Technical College.

The students and Sanders’ workforce were treated to pizza for lunch and all the Gatorade and bottled water they wanted, the drinks being one of many benefits and morale boosters at Temcor.  

Temcor, Sanders, Kessler and Faith hope to make this a monthly event throughout each school year with a new set of students each month.  It is hoped that these efforts coupled with other efforts and programs in place at the Effingham County Board of Education will reduce the drop out rate in Effingham County high schools.  

Feedback from the students indicated that they were in awe of what the fulltime workforce actually did and were very attentive to the educational requirements in the full time workforce.

Temcor is the world’s leading designer, manufacturer, and erector of geodesic domes and other clear-span aluminum roofing structures.  You can obtain more information about Temcor at www.temcor.com.