SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. | The American Made Movie Tour kicked off its visit to the Lehigh Valley — the 20th location on their 32-city tour — by stopping at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute.

Filmmakers Vincent Vittorio and Nathaniel Thomas McGill met with school administrators and teachers to find a possible answer to a tough question.

“What do you think the secret is going about getting students at a younger level interested in these [manufacturing] jobs again?” McGill asked. “The Lehigh Valley is still living in the shadow of Bethlehem Steel. The old perception of manufacturing is that it is back-breaking, dirty labor.

LCTI Executive Director Sandra Himes answered, “The people of the Lehigh Valley remember people lost their jobs and pensions. We first have to change that perception so they know that the jobs are here and that they are high-skilled, high-wage jobs.”

“Ocean Spray is moving from New Jersey to Allentown near Nestle Waters and Sam Adams brewery. Companies are now reaching out to LCTI because they hear what we did for their neighbors and they want us to do the same for them,” said Jan Klevis, LCTI’s director of postsecondary and workforce education. “This allows us to teach the exact technical skills to students to fill these jobs and to help the companies improve the skills of their incumbent workers.”

Vittorio and McGill, along with their film crew, briefly toured the facility, capturing footage for their upcoming documentary, the “American Made Movie Tour”. Before their departure, the crew praised LCTI for providing state-of-the art technical education to both high school and adult students. The crew hopes to visit again to highlight LCTI for another upcoming documentary on education.