ERIE — The Manufacturer & Business Association (The MBA) recognized the winners of the 2025 Patrick R. Locco Scholarship Awards, during the 12th annual Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) celebration on Oct. 8, at the Bayfront Convention Center.

“The Locco Awards are the pinnacle of our MFG Day celebration, and we are extremely proud to recognize the achievements of our area’s best and brightest students in vocational and technical education,” said Lori Joint, president and chief executive officer of The MBA. “These scholarships are a tremendous honor and valuable way to support these exceptional students as they continue their educational journey.”

2025 Locco Award winners are: Kamdyn Moon of the Corry Area Career & Technical Center; Connor Dunn of the Crawford County Career & Technical Center; Eric Nowlin of Erie High School; and, Braydon Kehl of the Erie County Technical School.

Additional nominees were: Ayden Beckerink, Maci Turner, Trenton Lodbell and Isaac Hicks of Corry Area Career & Technical Center; Charles Dickey and Gregory Sklenar of Crawford County Career & Technical Center; Jackxiel Alicea, Lalia Newton and Mohammad Alzamel of Erie High School; and Tyler Rakowski, Ken Byerly and Benjamin Moffett of Erie County Technical School.

The Locco Awards, which are named in honor of the late Association Vice President Patrick R. Locco, a strong advocate of vocational education, were created in 1972 (then known as the Golden Watch Awards) with the sole purpose to recognize outstanding high school students who distinguish themselves in the pursuit of technical and academic excellence. To be considered for this prestigious honor, students must apply and be nominated by a teacher. Each school narrows the nominees to their top candidates. Students are then interviewed by local businesspeople who ultimately choose the winners.

This year, the student winners each received a $1,000 scholarship.

MFG Day is presented by The MBA, along with partners — the Northwest Pennsylvania National Tooling and Machining Association, Career Street, Harbor Creek School District and Crawford County K-12 Career Education Alliance — and major sponsor AirBorn, along with dozens of other sponsor companies.

To learn more, visit mbausa.org.