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october 19, 2021 - Textron Aviation

Empowering our future talent

Ask any child what they want to be when they grow up, and you’re likely to hear a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or even an astronaut! Rarely do children respond that they want to work in  manufacturing—but #carolinenichols, K-12 program manager, and Lauren Howell, K-12 program intern at Textron Aviation intend to change that.

Caroline asks a couple of simple questions when meeting #students. “Do you like to build things? Have you ever built anything with Legos?” When children hear that, it leads to a resounding classroom “Yes!”

“Children love to build and often don’t know that they can build things for a living,” says Caroline. “It is so rewarding to see the lightbulb go on when a student’s interests connect to aviation. They love to build with Legos? We have assembler positions for them to build life-size aircraft!

Inspiring creators and inventors

Textron Aviation’s K-12 program works with children starting in Kindergarten to help them discover that there are incredible, successful options after high school in a manufacturing career. Most children have a directional path for their future by age 12, so it’s important to reach youth at a young age to understand all their options.

When working with #students of elementary school age, I use words such as creator, builder and inventor, said Caroline. The #students connect to those career titles much easier than words we use in industry, such as engineer or assembler.'Caroline Nichols, K-12 program manager, Textron Aviation

For Manufacturing Day earlier this month, the K-12 program team connected children with building opportunities by delivering STEM packages to local middle schools in Wichita, Kan. The packages included hands-on building activities like paper roller coaster, foam rocket and popsicle stick catapult for #students and educators to create in the classroom or at home.  

Further information in the press release to download