OLYPHANT — Area high school students got a first-hand look Wednesday morning at the production of products made in the Midvalley that are critical to automobiles and electronics.
During a tour of the Saint-Gobain Ceramics plant along East Lackawanna Avenue, students from Mid Valley and others enrolled in the Career Technology Center from schools including Scranton, West Scranton, North Pocono, Western Wayne, Valley View and Carbondale passed by centrifuges, particle size analyzers and giant vibrational mills.
“We deal with producing a slurry that goes into the manufacturing of computer and artificial intelligence chips,” said Bob Moran, plant manager for Saint-Gobain’s Olyphant facility. “We also make a slurry for polishing card disk drives with synthetic diamond.”
Saint-Gobain North America launched its Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities, a manufacturing workforce development program aimed at introducing students to a manufacturing career, about a year ago with a pilot program at two plants and since held events at about eight additional facilities, said Ken Seda, community relations and philanthropy manger for Saint-Gobain.
“The goal is to get it to as many of the 150-plus Saint-Gobain facilities in North America that we can,” he said. “The idea is to expose kids to all the different opportunities that exist at the plants. It’s not just about technology jobs, or operations jobs, there are all kinds of different jobs on the floor. There are production roles, maintenance jobs, and everything up through human resources to being a plant manager.”
Stephanie Gorney, a senior particle process operator for Saint-Gobain, demonstrates to area high school students to how rebuild a diaphragm pump at the company’s Olyphant facility on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (ROBERT TOMAKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
Briar Moore, a Level 3 particle process operator for Saint-Gobain, shows local high school students how to rebuild a diaphragm pump at the company’s Olyphant plant on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (ROBERT TOMKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
Students from area school districts work on an exercise related to manufacturing during a visit to Saint-Gobain in Olyphant on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, at the Olyphant plant. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Stephanie Murphy, technical operations manager at Saint-Gobain, talks to students from local school districts about opportunities in manufacturing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, at the Olyphant plant. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Briar Moore, a particle process operator at Saint-Gobain, talks to students from area school districts about opportunities in manufacturing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, at the Olyphant plant. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Stephanie Gorney, a senior particle process operator for Saint-Gobain, demonstrates to area high school students to how rebuild a diaphragm pump at the company’s Olyphant facility on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (ROBERT TOMAKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
In addition to the tour, students participated in a team-building exercise where they were tasked with reassembling ink pens.
Stephanie Murphy, technical operations manager for Saint-Gobain in Olyphant, sought to debunk some stereotypes about the industry and steer students toward a manufacturing career.
“We’re not a traditional manufacturing facility in the general sense that there is no assembly line,” she said. “We’re just hoping we can show them what different things manufacturing can entail. I wish that when I was their age, we had opportunities like this to go into different places to see what they do.”
Stephanie Gorney, a senior particle process operator, who helped show students how to repair a diaphragm pump, outlined how a switch from broadcast journalism to manufacturing paid off in a big way over the past seven years.
“Manufacturing, itself, opened up a lot of opportunities for me,” she said. “There is a lot of growth potential within the field from supply chain management to production supervisor and management positions. There are a lot of opportunity outside of the production aspect. Through manufacturing, I’ve been able to pay off my student loans and purchase a house.”
Gorney also stressed Saint-Gobain produces materials in very high demand at the moment.
“Our product is used for a lot of the electronic microchips in cars and a lot of the AI technology that is coming out,” she said. “Our product gets put on top of these microchips and is used to polish the surface and make a smooth surface.”
Sean Hummel, a sophomore at North Pocono High School, told employees he always wanted to visit a factory and noted the tour meet his expectations and reinforced that he would want to work in a factory setting as a career after seeing the complexity of the machines working around the plant.
Xzahvier Davis, a sophomore at West Scranton High School, who enrolled in the CTC this past fall, also found the tour to be exciting and strives to learn more about manufacturing and robotics. He aims to become a doctor, but also wants to broaden his horizons.
“If I can’t become a doctor, robotics and automation is a great program,” he said. “In general, everything is going to robotics and the automation processes. If you can figure out how to do that early on, I feel like you can get ahead of the game.”