Nearly 200 students from Orleans among 1,100 at GLOW With Your Hands

Hands-on career exploration showcased trades, manufacturing, agriculture and construction industries

Photos by Tom Rivers: Graham Manufacturing of Batavia’s welding instructor Bill Muoio, left, guides George Issa, an Iroquois Middle School student in Elma, in a welding demonstration on Tuesday at the Genesee County Fairgrounds in Batavia as part of the fifth annual GLOW With Your Hands event. There were 1,102 students at the career exploration including about 200 from Orleans County. Graham has 80 welders currently with 16 more soon to join.

BATAVIA – The fifth annual GLOW With Your Hands career exploration event drew about 1,100 students, mostly from the four rural counties of Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming.

The 1,102 students that attended were the most in the five years of GLOW With Your Hands and included 60 from Albion, 38 from Holley, 40 from Kendall, 15 from Lyndonville and 39 from Medina.

Altogether, 30 school districts from the GLOW counties sent students for a hands-on career exploration event with businesses and organizations from the trades, manufacturing, agriculture and construction industries.

Zack Albee, an eight-grader from Alexander, hammers a nail in the nail driving contest. A representative from the carpenters union said there is an abundance of work for union carpenters with so many road construction, solar projects, capital projects at schools and waste-waste plant upgrades.

Dave Hardenbrook, an engineer with Clark Patterson Lee, flies a drone for students to see. Hardenbrook said drones are used for surveying and other site improvement projects. Work that used to take days can be done in 15 minutes with a drone, he said.

“A drone has made some work a million times easier,” he said.

CPL does engineering, architectural and planning work. Hardenbrook told students there are many roles in the engineering business, and more engineers are always needed.

A student climbs into the cab of a tractor-trailer from Swan Equipment & Trucking in Avon. Students sat in the driver’s seat and blew the horn.

“We can always use more truckers,” said Fred Dioguardi of Perry, who works for Swan.

Fred Dioguardi of Perry shows students an excavator and some of the other construction equipment that he hauls for Swan Equipment & Trucking. LG Evans Construction is a sister company of Swan.

Dioguardi started as a truck driver at age 18 and has 30 years in the business. He drives a truck with a trailer that combined are 75 feet long. He said GPS has made the job a little bit easier but he said the toughest part is other drivers on the road who swerve in front of him and don’t obey basic rules of the road.

Edwin, a ninth-grader at Cal-Mum, uses the backhoe attachment on a John Deere tractor. Scott Holmes, the general manager of LandPro’s new Batavia store, provides guidance.

Tim McArdle, assistant principal at Cal-Mum’s middle/high school, said the career expo was a great chance for students to see many different job options in local industries.

“It’s ands-on and you’re talking to the professionals about the best way to get involved in these careers,” he said. “There’s a lot to do in a short amount of time. They are able to keep the students’ attention.”

The Grange Building at the fairgrounds had 40 different vendors with many offering activities to help students learn about those careers. There were more than 60 vendors and exhibitors at the event.

“As a result of the hard work and planning of local workforce advocates, event exhibitors and volunteers, and our sponsoring partners, students across the region are learning more about the good-paying and debt-free careers available to them immediately upon graduating from high school,” said GLOW With Your Hands Co-Founders Chris Suozzi and Jay Lazarony. “This gives them the awareness of what skills are needed, and the ability they have to succeed across many industries.”

After launching in 2019 with 800 students, GLOW With Your Hands has steadily grown. Last year it added “GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare” in March at GCC in Batavia to highlight careers in the healthcare industry.

“Our annually increasing participation at GLOW With Your Hands is a credit to the full engagement of our schools and the students excited to gain a hands-on view of career opportunities that they may have never contemplated,” said GLOW With Your Hands Co-Chair Angela Grouse. “Many of these careers can be successfully launched with our region’s robust training programs and deliver family-sustaining wages and benefits along with rewarding lifestyles.”