Clinton Middle School wins CNS-sponsored Dream It. Do It. competition

  • Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016, 5:12 pm

Clinton Middle School wins the inaugural Dream It. Do It. Competition May 2016. Front row (left to right): Janet Hawkins, Paige Cooper, Sierra Patrick, Anthony Burkett Hundley and Kristin Waldschlager of CNS. Back row (left to right): Anderson County Chamber President Rick Meredith, Jack Spangler, Jonathan Lewis, Kelly Myers and Jason Bohne and Jim Zonar of CNS.Clinton Middle School wins the inaugural Dream It. Do It. Competition May 2016. Front row (left to right): Janet Hawkins, Paige Cooper, Sierra Patrick, Anthony Burkett Hundley and Kristin Waldschlager of CNS. Back row (left to right): Anderson County Chamber President Rick Meredith, Jack Spangler, Jonathan Lewis, Kelly Myers and Jason Bohne and Jim Zonar of CNS.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Anderson County Chamber’s inaugural “Dream It. Do It.” competition exceeded expectations said Chamber officials, as four Anderson County middle school teams, working with local businesses, created industrial videos that received more than 12,000 online votes.

At an awards ceremony at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus, Clinton Middle School, which partnered with Eagle Bend Manufacturing, was announced the winning team. For their effort, the school received four Go Pro cameras, provided by Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) through corporate funds. CNS is the managing contractor at the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, and at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the results of our pilot program,” said Anderson County Chamber President Rick Meredith. “Our goal was to get kids excited about manufacturing and expose them to the idea that there are lots of job opportunities and even careers in manufacturing.”

The Chamber, Anderson County Schools and CNS partnered to bring the program to Anderson County. Area industries quickly lined up to take part.

“For CNS, it’s about the enduring global security mission that dates back to the Manhattan Project,” said Jason Bohne, senior director of Communications and Public Affairs at CNS. “We will continue to need highly skilled workers for our mission. Getting kids at the middle school age to begin thinking about those kinds of careers helps us all in the future.”

Meredith agreed. “There are many jobs in advanced manufacturing, and the initiative is an effort to acquaint students with these employment options. These are exciting jobs, and the kids get a firsthand look to see what actually goes on behind the scenes. We hope it gets them excited about these kinds of careers,” he said.

The program involved putting eighth-grade students in adult settings. Equipped with Go Pro cameras, they got a firsthand look at a manufacturing world they might not have considered as a future career. CNS provided the students at Clinton, Lake City, Norris and Norwood middle schools with the cameras and the mission to capture the diversity of careers and technical innovations in manufacturing by producing a short video.

The Anderson Chamber of Commerce paired Magna/Eagle Bend Manufacturing, Inc.; AISIN Automotive Casting Tennessee; Eagle Bend Manufacturing, Inc.; SL America and Techmer PM with the schools and teachers for this experience.

The videos were available for online voting between April 27 and May 4. More than 12,000 votes were cast, and Clinton Middle school received the majority—6,672 votes.

The student videos may be viewed at

Norris Middle School - Techmer PM
https://youtu.be/ZLyW1nIDdxI

Clinton Middle School - Magna/Eagle Bend Manufacturing
https://youtu.be/3fm8eF7kJZc

Lake City Middle School - SL America
https://youtu.be/MkeFBeXQszk

Norwood Middle School – AISIN Automotive Casting
https://youtu.be/KwGThIIuvXQ

For more information about Dream It. Do It., contact Jason Bohne at 865-241-1400 or jason.bohne@cns.doe.gov.

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