Area Students Visit Campus for Shipbuilding, Repair and Maritime Career Day

On a Monday in late March, the floor of the Ted Constant Convocation Center was filled with the enthusiastic sounds of more than 1,300 local middle and high school students.

They came to campus for the annual Shipbuilding, Repair and Maritime Career Day, sponsored by Old Dominion's Lean Manufacturing and Enterprise Institute, and the International Society of Agile Manufacturing. The daylong event was designed to inform students about opportunities for a challenging, rewarding and stable career in Hampton Roads, in the region's thriving shipbuilding and ship repair industries.

Through hands-on activities, students were able to experience important maritime processes such as 3-D shipbuilding, pipe fitting, rigging, welding, precision drilling and other skills that are in demand.

ODU Lean Institute director Alok Verma, Ray Ferarri Professor of Engineering Technology, said studies have shown a need for workers in the skilled trade professions in the shipbuilding and ship repair industries. "This Career Day event, which teaches via hands-on activities and features an industry expo and guest speakers, hopefully demonstrates to students, and their teachers, how important the shipbuilding, ship repair and maritime industry is to Hampton Roads," Verma said.

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