Metro East high school wins 3D printing contest hosted by advanced manufacturing center
High school students typically receive exposure to one additive manufacturing technology – material extrusion, which uses a heated nozzle to build objects layer by layer, officials said.
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By James Drew – Reporter, St. Louis Business Journal. Mar 3, 2025
The nonprofit group working on construction of an advanced manufacturing center in the St. Louis area also is helping high school students gain exposure to potential career paths in the manufacturing sector.
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center St. Louis (AMICSTL) partnered with Project Mfg, a program of a Kansas City-based nonprofit group, to hold a competition Friday that attracted about 34 students from nine area public and private high schools. The five-hour competition was held at the St. Louis-based Rung for Women nonprofit group.
Students were tasked with assembling a product based on a CubeSat, which is a compact satellite used for research and educational purposes. The project involved 3D printing technology, testing the students' skills in design, slicing, post-processing and assembly, said Brent Griffith, who designed the competition. He is the additive manufacturing engineering manager at Labconco, a laboratory equipment supplier in Kansas City.
High school students typically receive exposure to one additive manufacturing technology – material extrusion, which uses a heated nozzle to build objects layer by layer, Griffith said. The students at the competition also used parts made from two other technologies; powder bed fusion, in which a laser or electron beam is used to melt and fuse material powder together; and vat photopolymerization, which uses light to harden liquid resin into layers.
The winner was Freeburg Community High School in St. Clair County, Illinois. The prize was $1,000 and a MakerBot printer from Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS), which has a U.S. headquarters in Minnesota. The runner-up was Triad High School in Troy, Illinois, which received a prize of a MakerBot printer. Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights placed third, with a prize of $500 of supplies from Stratasys.
“We’re helping these kids open their eyes to new career options and this is the way we create momentum for the manufacturing jobs of the future,” Dennis Muilenburg, chairman of the AMICSTL board of directors and former CEO of The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), said in an interview.
Construction is expected to start this year on the advanced manufacturing center in north St. Louis adjacent to Ranken Technical College. Supporters say the goal is to make the St. Louis area a driver of research and development efforts to create new products, processes and materials – potentially creating hundreds of new businesses while providing "strong, diverse and equitable growth" for the region.
AMICSTL recruited the high schools for Friday’s competition, which could become an annual event, said Tracy Henke, the group’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer.
Project Mfg, which promotes advanced manufacturing and addresses the need for more skilled workers in the sector, is a program of Global Learning Accelerator Inc. It is a nonprofit group based in Kansas City that in 2023 had $310,993. Global Learning Accelerator is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program.
The other high schools that participated in the competition were Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, Belleville Township High School West, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy in St. Louis, Hazelwood East High School, Hazelwood West High School and Incarnate Word Academy in Bel-Nor.