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Elkhart RV Company Trains Middle Schoolers For Workforce

Students at Northridge Middle School build model RVs in Thor Industry's LEAP Program.
Justin Hicks/IPB News
Students at Northridge Middle School build model RVs in Thor Industry's LEAP Program.

Companies across the state struggle to find skilled workers. One company is partnering with schools to train future employees as early as fifth grade.

Elkhart RV company Thor Industries is going into classrooms to teach teamwork and problem solving skills they say students need to be successful at any job – especially ones in their company.

In Middlebury, Northridge Middle School teacher Amy Hively says their lessons fit perfectly into the Indiana middle school science curriculum.

“They can see the connections we can make between lab and class and the types of skills that people are looking for in the workforce,” Hively says.

Thor Industries’ community engagement director Rick Schutt estimates they’ll work with about 5,000 students in the Elkhart area.

Justin Hicks is a workforce reporter for IPB News based at WVPE in Elkhart. He comes to Indiana by way of New York. He has a master's degree from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University and earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Appalachian State University where he played trumpet. He first learned about Elkhart, Indiana, because of the stamp on his brass instrument indicating where it was produced. Justin was born and raised in Mt. Olive, North Carolina. He currently lives in South Bend with his dog, Charlotte.
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