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F a l l 2 0 1 9 • S T U F F 2 3 C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E S S T U F F M a d e I n C T . c o m punishment, that if you messed up you were going to have to go to technical school to graduate," she said. Today, Howroyd said, her students see they can snap up jobs doing anything from fabricating metal machinery parts to working on submarines or doing pipe welding. Since students do on-the-job training, many can go right to the same employer they're already working for after graduation. Many companies are eager to hire because they face a shortage of skilled tradespeople. "Any time I talk with my local businesses that we work with, many have people retiring," Howroyd said. "They don't know what to do." Jumping right into manufacturing At 16, Adelmo Lia is already working two different manufacturing jobs this summer, one at Sikorsky, the aircraft company owned by Lockheed Martin, and another at Inline Plastics. Lia said he'll continue to work at the plastics company over the next school year while completing his senior year in the precision machining program at Emmett O'Brien Technical High School in Ansonia. After that, he plans to work full-time for Sikorsky and take advantage of the company's college tuition reimbursement program to continue his education. In part, he's driven by the good financial rewards of the manufacturing industry, but he said he also enjoys the work. "I really love what I'm doing now," Lia said. "I love waking up in the morning and going to work every day and being able to make something new." Steve Orloski, head of the program where Lia's studying, said machining has become a huge draw for students. "The students are all getting high-paying jobs with no college debt," he said. "They're really, really excelling: males, females, we're getting everybody into the field." Orloski himself is the fourth generation in his family to go into the tool-and-die industry. He graduated from Bullard- Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport and worked for aerospace and molding companies for 17 years before switching gears and entering education 15 years ago. "I wanted to give back to the school system that gave so Students at Emmett O'Brien Technical High School in Ansonia get hands-on learning experiences. Lucy Caroline Driscoll, 18 SCHOOL: Ella T. Grasso Technical High School, Groton RESIDENCE: New London JOB ASPIRATIONS: To be an engineer or design supervisor ROLE PLAYING: Driscoll has been playing Dungeons & Dragons for 10 years PHOTO | Michael Papetti