Video: Cooper Tire Brings Its Step By Step Process To Students

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – They’re part of something called “The Dream Team” and for two days, they explained to Tupelo High school students, how tires are made.

The Cooper Tire employees also showed how specialty tires, made at the company’s Findlay Ohio plant, are used on race cars.

It is part of national Manufacturing Week and this year, for the first time, employees from the Tupelo plant are visiting the Career-Technical Center at THS.

Cerritos Johnson is student services coordinator. She says having the team members in class helps students think about life after high school.

“With Cooper Tire here, saying, outside of high school, you can come, apply to Cooper Tire and possibly be hired, this is reiterating some of the things we have already told them,” Johnson said.

Along with teaching students everything about the process of making tires, organizers of this event hope to spark an interest among young people in the field of manufacturing.

“One of the big things that keeps the American economy going is manufacturing, so whether it’s Cooper Tire, or a different company, definitely getting a new generation involved in manufacturing is fantastic for the whole country,” said Aron Hughes, a process engineer with Cooper Tire in Tupelo.

Students say they learned a lot about making tires, and setting goals.

“I thought it was just like, find some rubber and put it in like a weld, just press something down and get a tire out, but it takes more steps to do it, it takes a team effort to do it,” said THS Junior Janson Nabors.

“It can help us make future decisions about what we want to do , helps us get better determined and get a better idea of what’s out there for us,” said THS Sophomore Camil DeVould.

More than 360 Career and Technical Center students attended the Cooper Tire Manufacturing event.
Company officials say several potential future employees were discovered by Human Resources personnel during the manufacturing day exhibit.