Oak Ridge Today

Cast your vote in ‘Dream It. Do It.’ middle school competition

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CLINTON—The videos are in, and it is now time to vote in Anderson County’s “Dream It. Do It.” middle school competition. The program is in its second year and has grown from four to six schools, including two from the Oak Ridge school system.

“Dream It. Do It.” is sponsored by the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, Anderson County Schools, Oak Ridge Schools, and Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, the managing contractor at Y-12 National Security Complex. It is designed to bring student awareness of job opportunities in advanced manufacturing, a press release said.

Using GoPro cameras provided by CNS, six teams of eighth-graders were paired with area industries to create videos to tell the companies’ stories. These videos are then posted online for public voting. Each winning team member receives a GoPro camera, also provided by CNS.

This year’s participant teams included: Clinton Middle School and Aisin, Jefferson Middle School and Protomet, Lake City Middle School and Techmer PM, Norris Middle School and Eagle Bend, Norwood Middle School and Clayton Homes, and Robertsville Middle School and SL America. [Read more…]

Clinton Middle wins CNS-sponsored Dream It, Do It competition

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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. (Submitted photo)

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. (Submitted photo)

 

Clinton Middle School won the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce’s first “Dream It. Do It.” competition.

Clinton Middle School partnered with Eagle Bend Manufacturing in the competition. For their effort, the school received four Go Pro cameras, provided by Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or 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.

The awards ceremony was at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus.

The program involved putting eighth-grade students in adult settings, a press release said. Equipped with Go Pro cameras, the students got a firsthand look at a manufacturing world that 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. [Read more…]

SL Tennessee expansion could be largest in industrial employment since World War II

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SL Tennessee Expansion Media Availability

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, center, announces 1,000 new jobs as part of an $80.5 million expansion at auto parts manufacturer SL Tennessee in Clinton. Also pictured from left are Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Clinton Mayor Scott Burton, and U.S. Senator Bob Corker.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11:30 a.m. July 26.

CLINTON—The 1,000 new jobs announced at SL Tennessee in Clinton on Friday could be the largest expansion of industrial employment in Anderson County since World War II, officials said.

SL Tennessee, an auto parts manufacturer, plans to invest $80.5 million to build a 250,000-square-foot plant on Frank L. Diggs Drive in the Clinton I-75 Industrial Park. It will be SL Tennessee’s LLC third building in the park, and the company’s fifth expansion since locating in Clinton in 2001. The new building will manufacture automobile head lights and tail lamps for General Motors.

The jobs announcement was made in the South Korean company’s Chassis Plant on Friday near workers assembling gear shifters and brake assemblies, mostly for GM. Marking the importance of the announcement, Gov. Bill Haslam was invited to speak and so were U.S. senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.

“This is obviously a big day,” said Haslam, who announced the new jobs. “It shows our growth in the automotive business.”

It’s the second announcement of more than 1,000 jobs at an automotive plant in East Tennessee in the past two weeks. Last week, Volkswagen announced a $600 million investment and 2,000 new jobs in Chattanooga. [Read more…]