Clarence Carthon III peered into the innards of a packaging machine that he and his high school colleagues built and pointed to the electrical connections.
“I did the electrical wiring,” Carthon says, as paper cups move around in the machine. “After going through all this hard work, I want to be an electrician.”
The junior at Rich Township High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois, was part of a team that participated in the PACK Challenge competition sponsored by PepsiCo and held at PACK EXPO International, November 3–6, at McCormick Place in Chicago. The competition brought together five high school teams from Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in a packaging competition to showcase creativity, innovation, and ingenuity, organizers said. Each team was provided with the components to design and build a functional denesting and orientating machine in a mock production line.
“These days, you have to get a job doing something with your hands,” Carthon says about his future career.
“It will be anywhere I can work with wires. When I started working on this, it was a big challenge. But I loved it. My plan is to graduate from high school and eventually go to trade school.”
Cash Awards
His team from Rich Township High would go on to win two awards in the competition: the Marketing and Sales Expert Award and its $1,500 prize for the best pitch about their machine and the Judges Award for exceptional teamwork and school spirit.
The Overall Best in Show first place award, with its $9,000 cash prize, went to the coalition of Becker High School in Becker, Minnesota, and Legacy Christian Academy in Andover, Minnesota. The coalition also won the $1,500 prize for the team’s machine performing the best throughout the competition based on the factory acceptance test and operator training standards.
Second place for best in show, with a $4,500 prize, went to Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. And third place, with a $2,500 prize, went to Waterford Union High School in Waterford, Wisconsin, according to the producer of PACK EXPO International, PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.
Workforce Development
“The competition showcases PMMI’s dedication to promoting workforce development and inspiring the next generation of engineers, designers, and packaging professionals,” PMMI said in a statement.
“Through initiatives like the PACK Challenge, PMMI continues to champion programs that prepare students for careers in this dynamic industry.”
The competition provides students with hands-on packaging technology experience, helping to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world industry application. Each team worked under the mentorship and collaboration of industry professionals, PMMI said.
“We are incredibly proud of the work these students have put into this competition,” said Kate Fiorianti, director of workforce development at PMMI, in a release.
“The PACK Challenge embodies the future of our industry by connecting young talent with the opportunities and technologies that will shape the future of packaging and processing.”
Editor’s note: In the image featured with this article, Clarence Carthon III, a junior at Rich Township High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois, shows the electrical connections he worked on for his team’s entry in PACK Challenge at PACK EXPO International in early November at McCormick Place in Chicago. The team went on to win two awards.
Thomas A. Barstow is senior editor at FlexPack VOICE®.