Raymond Hosts Student Engineering Day

The Raymond Corporation hosted more than 150 high school students at its headquarters in Greene, New York, on 17 May, for the company’s inaugural Engineering Day. Students from more than nine schools across the Southern Tier of New York learned about career opportunities within engineering and its multitude of disciplines.

“At Raymond, our goal is to inspire students with engaging, hands-on learning experiences – from various areas of the engineering field – that they otherwise may not be able to experience in the classroom,” said Erric Heitmann, vice president of engineering at Raymond. “Engineering has a great number of disciplines that many don’t even realise. We are excited to showcase them and demonstrate how they are used right here at our facility, from computer engineering to manufacturing engineering – and beyond.”

Raymond’s Engineering Day featured more than 12 interactive exhibits, including 3D printing, modelling and analysis; augmented reality technology; iWarehouse simulation; and the Raymond Virtual Reality Simulator.

Many of the students and teachers who attended are part of engineering programmes at their respective schools. Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is one programme that helps engage students in hands-on projects and empowers them to solve real-world challenges. This nationwide programme prepares students to be successful in engineering and engineering technology careers, and also prepares them for post-secondary education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Marta Gaska, teacher and PLTW programme director at Binghamton High School in Binghamton, New York said, “We are very excited that our students can see how engineering is being used first-hand at a leading company right here in New York state. We hope that, through the PLTW programme and partners like Raymond, we can inspire the next generation of engineers.”

High school students who participate in Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) also were in attendance. P-TECH is a programme offered through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of New York State. Its curriculum focuses on preparing students to earn an associate degree in either computer technology, engineering technology or health studies. This programme enables students to earn an associate degree while working toward earning their high school diploma.