On Friday, July 12 OrthoWorx was awarded a grant from the Don Wood Foundation to educate middle school and high school students about careers in manufacturing and entrepreneurship.
With this funding, OrthoWorx will embark on an effort, in partnership with Indiana-based iXplore™, to broaden the reach and exposure to orthopedics career pathways for eighth- and ninth-grade students across the region, beginning in year one with Warsaw, Whitko, Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley school corporations. This will be accomplished by building an immersive experience deployed through pop-up Virtual Reality (VR) roadshow events, according to a news release from OrthoWorx.
For nearly two decades, iXplore™ has been a leader in interactive experiences, working with blue-chip and blue-collar companies across the U.S. They leverage their knowledge of Virtual Reality, touch interactives and web-based technologies to create engaging and immersive career exploration experiences. Informed by extensive research, their approach to immersive career exploration is powerful and unique, the release states, because it enables equitable, consistent messaging for featured pathways; excites users through fun, gamified experiences curated for their enjoyment; engages and informs in an immersive way that makes a lasting impression; and empowers and inspires by sharing what matters most about each career.
Heather Jackson, CEO and co-founder of iXplore™, said, “We take an intentional and creative approach to our experiences, understanding that each industry and role carries with it a unique ‘why’ that matters even more to young people than just the ‘what’ or the ‘how’.”
This initiative is important because, according to a Conexus Indiana report, “Indiana is at an inflection point - the state is already a national Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics (AML) leader, but to maintain its leadership position and reach global prominence Indiana must build the workforce of the future and enable Industry 4.0 occupations to increase productivity and competitiveness.”
From middle school to high school to young adults, the next generation of the workforce needs to have a more relevant and interactive way to understand the backpack of opportunities that await them in an industry. Through this initiative, students can be what they see, according to the release.
“We look forward to providing fun and engaging experiences for students to explore these great career opportunities in Kosciusko County,” says Erin Serafino, talent director at OrthoWorx. “It’s one thing to show and tell, but it’s a whole new world they can step into with the VR headset – they will get to be the machinist or the polisher and decide if this career path fits their talents and interests.”
OrthoWorx and iXplore™ will be developing the first VR experience in CNC machining and polishing, enabled by the help of industry partners, and plans to share the experience with eighth- and ninth-grade students in Kosciusko County beginning early next year. The entrepreneurship model will follow soon after. OrthoWorx plans to expand the reach of these VR experiences to Northern Indiana over the next few years.