Kansas City’s new high school graduates can build a bright future in manufacturing | Opinion
High school graduation season is a special time in the Kansas City community. It marks the culmination of watching kids around us — in our schools, neighborhoods and homes — grow up and embrace young adulthood. On behalf of the entire General Motors Fairfax Assembly and Stamping team, we congratulate all Kansas City-area 2023 high school graduates on their achievement. Each of the graduates we are celebrating this spring is a future leader with the potential to drive our local economy and community forward.
To the graduates: Be proud of this moment for what you’ve achieved, but also be excited for what’s next. You are entering a new chapter and have untapped potential to leave a lasting impact on those around you and the community you live in. As you explore the new possibilities available to you, consider pursuing manufacturing and skilled trades job opportunities right here in the Kansas City community.
Recently, four-year universities have seen a decline in enrollment. Some graduates note that rising costs, a desire to earn a living right away and a lack of classes focused on their areas of interest have led them to explore other options. Manufacturing and skilled trades offer compelling opportunities for young people to earn a living and make an impact in their communities. The manufacturing and skilled trades industry in the Kansas City region offer new graduates good-paying jobs that can lead to fulfilling careers.
Manufacturing and skilled trades allow you to work with your hands, solve new problems and change how people experience their day-to-day lives. At General Motors, we’ve embodied this into an aspiration to develop innovations to connect people to what matters most to them. This shows up in the production of the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 right here at Fairfax Assembly and Stamping in Kansas City, Kansas.
Not only are manufacturing jobs fulfilling, but they are also professions you can build a life around. In addition to a competitive starting wage for new hires, the benefits to manufacturing careers at employers such as General Motors are bountiful. From world-class health care and benefits packages, profit-sharing programs and the availability of development and training, to tuition assistance programs and flexible work assignments, these opportunities provide life-long career paths. They are jobs you can work for decades to provide for your family and help you become role models and leaders in the community.
While my career with General Motors has taken me many places, it started right here in Kansas City. When I returned to Fairfax Assembly and Stamping in 2022, many of the same people I worked with back then were still here. Others had retired and now their children or even grandchildren are working here. In fact, I’m a third-generation GM manufacturing employee. That sort of longevity and stability is increasingly rare, but it’s part of what working in the manufacturing sector can offer.
Our world is changing faster than ever. This year’s graduating class will come up with ideas, products and technologies that aren’t even in our realm of possibility today. What won’t change is the role manufacturing and skilled trades play in building these ideas and bringing them to people all over the world. “I built that” is a gratification that will never lose its luster, and General Motors and other Kansas City regional employers can help job-seekers find that satisfaction.
Again, congratulations to this year’s graduates and their families. GM and other local manufacturers offer many job opportunities to help you build your future.