{"id":50392,"date":"2026-02-24T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=50392"},"modified":"2026-02-24T08:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:51:30","slug":"paulding-county-partners-with-sabre-industries-for-student-interactive-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/paulding-county-partners-with-sabre-industries-for-student-interactive-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulding County partners with Sabre Industries for student interactive tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HICKSVILLE \u2013 The Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) office recently coordinated an exploratory learning tour at Sabre Industries in Hicksville, Ohio.  The tour included more than 40 students from Antwerp Local, Paulding Exempted Village, Wayne Trace Local Schools, and the Paulding County Opportunity Center. Students who indicated an interest in a welding future were treated to an up-close look at large-scale welding operations tied to Sabre\u2019s steel pole fabrication and production.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through collaboration with Defiance County Economic Development Director Erika Willitzer, the PCED office learned that Sabre is actively seeking a large number of welding and production employees to support its expanding production needs.  In response, PCED worked with Sabre Industries administration team to organize a tour for students who expressed interest in welding careers, giving them the chance to see the profession in action and better understand the skills required. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sabre admin team shared valuable information with students about the overall company, but specifically the Hicksville facility.  Discussion included safety, quality, production aspects, and employee benefits.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis experience was valuable on multiple levels,\u201d explained PCED Director Tim Copsey. \u201cSome students realized welding wasn\u2019t the right fit for them, while others left more excited and hope to pursue the trade.  Both outcomes are wins\u2014career exploration is about clarity, not pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour served as a pilot for what PCED hopes are more future workforce-focused field experiences. PCED will be gathering student feedback on what worked well, what could be improved, and what additional elements would make future tours even more impactful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copsey is encouraging local employers to consider hosting similar student tours, \u201cIf your business needs to build a future workforce, now is the time to open your doors.  If you don\u2019t have a pipeline of employees ready to step in, or if you have team members nearing retirement, it is time to introduce students to your industry to help secure your workforce for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next collaborative workforce event will be the Paulding County Career Day. It is scheduled for April 9 from 8:00 a.m. \u2013 12:00 p.m. at the county fairground campus. This event brings together all junior and senior students countywide. Businesses throughout the region that are interested in participating or arranging a facility tour are encouraged to contact the PCED office to reserve a spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HICKSVILLE \u2013 The Paulding County Economic Development (PCED) office recently coordinated an exploratory learning tour at Sabre Industries in Hicksville,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2230,6],"tags":[15099,13574,28169,28167,13351,1247,28168,8073],"class_list":["post-50392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-community","category-community","tag-defiance-county-economic-development","tag-hicksville-ohio","tag-paulding-county-career-day","tag-paulding-county-economic-develepment","tag-paulding-county-opportunity-center","tag-pced","tag-sabre-industries","tag-tim-copsey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t