Streator manufacturers host more than 200 students for tours, career fair

Streator High School senior Lillian Mattingly can picture herself working at a local factory.

On Thursday, she was one of more than 200 students from Streator High School, the Livingston Area Career Center and the La Salle-Peru Area Career Center who took tours at four Streator-area manufacturers and visited the incubator for a career fair and lunch.

The Manufacturing Day event was organized by the Streator Area Chamber of Commerce, with Vactor Manufacturing taking a lead in coordinating the event and tours provided at Vactor, US Truck Body, Alloy Specialties Inc. and Illinois Valley Machine.

“It’s more visual,” Mattingly said of seeing the factories. “It’s so helpful to be able to see different places, to see how people work there, and to see the opportunities at each place. I can see myself doing it.”

Along with the four manufacturers who provided tours and Stertil ALM, Illinois Valley Community College, Midwest Technical Institute, Business Employment Skills Team and the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity set up booths at the incubator to provide resources for students.

We wanted to show students the opportunities Streator has to offer in manufacturing.”

—  Katie Muntz of Vactor Manufacturing

Welding and paint simulators also were set up Thursday for students to get a taste of the job at Vactor.

“We wanted to show students the opportunities Streator has to offer in manufacturing,” Katie Muntz of Vactor Manufacturing said. “We had more than 200 students, and it was bustling in here. There were a lot of students that took an interest.”

Streator High School senior Alec Darrow was among those students.

“It was awesome,” Darrow said of the tours. “There’s a lot of good work opportunities and different work environments. It shows us the real world and gives us an idea of the kinds of things we’re going to need to know if we want to get a job.”

Mattingly said each manufacturer that students visited Thursday had its own strengths.

“I know my own strengths, and seeing it, I know what I can improve on more with my skills,” she said.

National Manufacturing Day is celebrated nationwide Oct. 6. President Joe Biden signed a proclamation commemorating the day that said “manufacturing is the backbone of our economy.”

Streator’s event was coordinated a day earlier to account for students being off school Oct. 6 for a teacher’s institute day.