Patterson teens, superintendent take part in Chicago trade show

Patterson High logistics students got to take workshops and walk the exhibit floor of America’s largest material handling trade show at McCormick Place in Chicago, learning about careers in an industry driving the Patterson jobs market.

With massive warehouses building between Patterson and Interstate 5, Patterson High took the initiative and created the first in the state high school supply chain and logistics program. The career-focused classes were developed with area employers and train students to meet industry standards. Besides high school credits, students can earn industry certificates, learn job skills and earn instructor recommendations that employers say carry weight.

How did a low-wealth, rural school district make it happen? By working with the community, Patterson Unified Superintendent Phil Alfano says whenever asked. He shared the story as a panelist at a ProMat trade show workshop on building business partnerships.

“Our program would not be where it is today without the help of MHI (material handling trade association) and our many business partners such as Amazon, CVS, Grainger and many more,” Alfano said, ticking off a few of the larger distribution centers in the Patterson area.

The show website says the event has an attendance of 40,000, mostly manufacturing and supply chain professionals. “They call it the Super Bowl for material handling and logistics,” Alfano said. The teens’ trip was funded by industry, with the school district chipping in airfare. Of the six Patterson teens, only one had ever been on an airplane before, Alfano noted.

“It’s hard to capture the size and scope of these exhibits in a photograph,” he said after a walk through the massive exhibit hall. “It is truly remarkable that all of this is set up and taken down so quickly – many of the displays are two stories with elaborate working equipment on display.”

The Patterson group was among 250 students invited to take part in a student day at the show. The only other California students were from Modesto Junior College, which is working with Patterson High to align their logistics programs into a seamless career training path.

But the teens will not all be following that road. Senior Michael Vasquez plans to join the U.S. Marine Corps and work in material handling there. Junior Jaime Chavez said he is planning on becoming an engineer in the logistics field.

“I didn’t know all the pathways that logistics has – engineering, sales and marketing,” he said by phone from Chicago Wednesday. “I started thinking more about engineering when I go to college.”

Senior Leah Sheets said the surprise for her was the wide range of jobs in transportation and storage. “Logistics touches everybody’s lives every single day,” said Sheets, who plans to major in business, with a focus on the logistics and supply chain industry.

“There are a lot of different opportunities in this field. You come here and you get more than you expect,” said senior Manny Ochoa. The range of options he called “eye-popping,” listing ocean engineering applications, amusement rides, movies, software development, transportation, guided vehicles.

Shahil Chowdaury said what he took away was how much logistics leans on technology, and how fast that is moving forward. “Robots are taking over jobs because they are more efficient and they keep going,” he said. Chowdaury is looking at a four-year university next.

“What I learned was how logistics revolves around us and we don’t see it,” Chavez summed up. “Logistics drives the world.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Patterson teens, superintendent take part in Chicago trade show."