YSU STEM Expo Matches Students with Local Employers

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – About 120 engineering firms, manufacturers and others seeking the area’s top young talent know the Youngstown State University STEM Expo is the place to find it.

Craig Camens, general manager at Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic, an international company headquartered in Warren, said the company has been attending the event at YSU for 20 years and hopes to attract local students around their sophomore and junior years for internships.

Camens, who has been with the company for 43 years, said the interns get experience in production, working in the test labs and with equipment.

And it’s easier to convince the best interns to stay after graduation when they already have experience at the company and understand the benefits of the low cost of living in the Warren area combined with a good salary.

“You can live like a king in Warren,” Camens said.

Camens and other employers said finding students and graduates with families in the area works out well for them.

Chris King, a human resources manager at Steel Equipment Specialists in Alliance, also said the company has been coming to the expo for 20 years. SES is one of the five sponsors of this fall’s event, along with Butech Bliss, Vallourec, Dearing Compressor and Gateway Engineers.

“This has been a great feeder program for us,” King said. “We take on interns every year out of here, and the vast majority of them find full-time jobs with us upon graduation. So our track record with YSU has been very strong, which is why we keep coming because the program is strong.”

King brought with him two former YSU graduates who work for the company to speak to the students about the opportunities at SES.

Julie Karovski, human resources manager at Broadband Hospitality, was representing the company on its first trip to the expo, but she already knew there was good talent to find there.

Karavoski said the company, with locations in Poland and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., installs tech and telecommunications equipment for hotels. After Broadband Hospitality recently hired one YSU student, Karavoski came to Thursday’s event to find more people with the same skills to bring onboard full time.

“We’re so impressed with the student that we hired and we’re thinking we need five of him,” Karovski said. “When we heard about this, we felt we had to do it.”

Sherri Hrusovski, executive director of the College of STEM at YSU, said the event has changed through the years. At one time, firms came looking for juniors and seniors for internships and full-time employment. Now, many start bringing interns on as early as their freshman year, giving them the chance to grow each summer.

“About 80% of our students have jobs lined up at the end of their junior year,” Hrusovski said, adding that employment is contingent on them finishing their last year strong and graduating.

Between 800 and 900 students were expected to attend Thursday’s event, which was also open to YSU alumni looking for a career change. About 200 freshmen were expected to attend.

One of the freshmen was Cara Zawrotuk, an industrial engineering major, who said everyone she spoke to was nice to chat with, and it gave her some ideas of which directions her major may take her down the road.

Azizul Islam studied both electrical engineering and computer engineering at YSU, working through the university as a graduate research and teaching assistant while obtaining his master’s degree. He’s now hoping to find his first full-time job away from YSU.

Two mechanical engineers, Brandon Simmons and Santiago Hernandez, along with Hernandez’s brother, Ruben, a computer engineer, are all in their junior year. The three students had information provided by YSU about the companies attending the event. Before heading out to the expo floor, they were sitting in the registration room researching and mapping which employers they most wanted to speak with.

“It’s a good opportunity to practice talking to employers,” Santiago Hernandez said.

Pictured at top: Cara Zawrotuk, a freshman industrial engineering student, speaks with Craig Camens, general manager at Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.