SPRING 2021
TREASURE COAST BOOT CAMPS GIVE ENTRY-LEVEL EMPLOYEES
A KICKSTART IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
When he was a senior at Treasure Coast
High School in Port St. Lucie in 2018, Slater
Price wasn’t sure what he would do after
graduation. Other than the improbable
dream of being a professional skateboarder,
all he was sure of was that he did not
want to go to college.
A guidance counselor pulled Price into an
office and told him that what he needed
was boot camp. Not the military one with
demanding drill sergeants, but the Ready
to Work Manufacturing Boot Camp.
Price figured he had nothing to lose but
was not enthusiastic about the five-day
program where he would learn how to
write a resume, perform in a job interview
and tour local manufacturing and warehousing
plants.
The eye-opening plant visits changed his
life, Slater, 21, said. He was particularly
moved when he saw boats being made at
Maverick Boat Group.
“I was blind. I had no clue what I wanted to
do and this kind of showed me a direction,”
Price said. “I got a job that I kind of
like doing, so, that’s cool.”
Price is part of a growing manufacturing
workforce that accounts for more nearly
5% of the Treasure Coast labor force,
Florida and federal figures from 2019
show. Manufacturing jobs accounted for
5% of the labor force in Martin County,
4.9% in St. Lucie, and 4.3% in Indian River,
against 4.3% statewide. St. Lucie has the
most manufacturing jobs. St. Lucie, with
310,000 people in the latest count from
2019, has as many people as Martin and
Indian River combined, and 77.5% of its
population was part of the labor force,
compared with 55.5% in Martin and 51.2%
in Indian River.
Jarl Stromer, class regulatory manager for Triton Submarines in Sebastian, shows a deepwater submersible to
Josh Green, Hunter Crawford and Ben Deering, students from the 2019 Indian River manufacturing boot camp.
STUDY REVEALS GAP IN TRAINING
A 2017 study by the St. Lucie County
Economic Development Council showed
a gap in the training level for the area’s
prospective entry-level manufacturing
employees. The EDC along with company
leaders on the Treasure Coast Manufacturing
Association created the Ready to Work
Manufacturing Boot Camp in St. Lucie
County in 2018. The first class, which included
Price, had about 20 students from
St. Lucie schools. That will be about 15 this
year, limited due to virus-protection spacing,
said Jill Marasa, EDC vice president for
business retention and expansion.
In 2019, Indian River County began a
similar boot camp, which like St. Lucie’s,
was enthusiastically received by company
and school officials as well as the students
themselves. Since 2018, four out of five attendees
of the boot camps were working
in the area’s manufacturing sector a year
after completing the program, said Jerry
Jacques, president of the Treasure Coast
Manufacturers Association.
Helene Caseltine, economic development
director at the Indian River Chamber of
Commerce, which coordinates with Indian
River schools for the boot camp, said its
program is much like St. Lucie’s: five days
of training in soft skills from personal finance
to ways to work on a manufacturing
team, and tours of manufacturing plants
along with question-and-answer sessions
with company leaders.
In 2020, St. Lucie was able to offer a modified
boot camp that met virtually and was
privy to virtual plant tours and discussions
14 www.TCMAmfg.com
TONYA WOODWORTH, CAREERSOURCE PHOTOS
with company leaders, Marasa said.
Maverick, along with Piper Aircraft in
Indian River and CVS in both counties,
are among the most active employers
involved in the boot camp.
“Everybody has the same issues,” said
Angie Brandt, human resource manager
at Maverick. “We have a hard time finding
people skilled in the field. The boot camp
has really sparked an interest and we are a
very strong supporter.”
Maverick has hired about a dozen workers
straight out of the boot camp, Brandt said.
Price, in his fourth year at Maverick, operates
a CNC — computer number control
— a prominent machine in many plants
worldwide that cuts a variety of material
into manufacturing parts. In Price’s case,
it’s not a stretch to say a Maverick boat
starts with him and the plastic forms he
cuts into parts and sets up on a cart called
a kit that travels from station to station in
the building process.
Slater Price, center, and fellow members of the
2018 St. Lucie County Boot Camp class watch a
demonstration at Hi-Tide Boat Lifts in Fort Pierce.
Manufacturing on the Treasure Coast varies from
airplanes, aluminum shutters and these precision
drill bits produced by M.A. Ford Manufacturing in
Vero Beach.
/www.TCMAmfg.com