Careers in High Gear: Tennessee School for the Deaf Students Learn Sand Casting with METAL

Sparks flew as students from Tennessee School for the Deaf turned a university foundry into their classroom. Through METAL’s hands-on workshop, eight high school students pounded sand molds, poured molten metal and discovered their potential in metal manufacturing.

METAL, led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, with funding from the Department of War’s IBAS Program, introduces students, career seekers and communities to the possibilities of metalcasting and forging. Through hands-on K-12 workshops, metallurgical bootcamps and apprenticeships, METAL is training a workforce that’s prepared to forge America’s future.

Advisor and TSD Transition Coordinator Daniel Jerrolds believes there’s a bright future for students who are interested in metalcasting, forging and other trade careers.

“I’ve started calling trade programs the modern day ‘Gold Rush,’” Jerrolds said. “There are jobs. The demand is there. If you look at a lot of technical programs, the job force is aging out and we’re not keeping up.”

He’s right — the need for trained metal workers is urgent. By 2033, almost 4 million manufacturing jobs could be available in the U.S. without the workforce to fill half of them.

Jerrolds, who began his career at TSD nearly 20 years ago as the construction teacher, says he has a heart for connecting students with hands-on skills. One of his first jobs was welding. Jerrolds learned on-the-job with his dad, who was a contractor for railroads in Tennessee. Today, Jerrolds shows students how to build their futures. Starting in sixth grade, TSD’s students receive aptitude testing, career counseling and vocational rehabilitation guidance to find the best path after school. In 2025, every graduating student had a plan, from employment to technical programs and college enrollment – breaking the school’s record in post-grad placement rates.

“I saw a need for what we’re doing with this program,” Jerrolds added. “The sooner we can get students in the right programs, whether it’s welding, forging and casting or plumbing or HVAC, and expose them to these skills, the better.”

Thanks to METAL, Jerrolds has one more tool in his career-planning belt. Through the program’s free, hands-on metallurgical training for K-12 schools, he’s introducing students like Tyarius (Ty) Howard to fulfilling, stable careers in metal — before they graduate.

Eight students from Tennessee School for the Deaf joined metallurgists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to learn how to mold, cast and polish a finished casting — expanding their hands-on skills and career potential.

A Day In the Foundry

Ty Howard, 17, thought he wanted to become a welder. METAL’s workshop made up his mind.

Like Jerrolds, Howard’s dad taught him how to weld. Growing up, when the father and son retreated to the garage to work on the family car, Howard watched his father’s torch throw bright electric arcs.

“I was always interested in the sparks,” Howard said through a sign language interpreter. “It looked fun, so I started to learn and see how to make different shapes and lines. That was fascinating to me. Then I started wanting to become a welder with cars.”

As metal manufacturing returns to the U.S., the nation will need 320,000 skilled welding professionals in the next three years. The field includes boilermakers, sheet metal workers, iron and steel workers, metal fabricators, welders, machine operators and more. Welders earn an average salary of $55,600, with strong opportunities for advancement.

During the half-day workshop at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Howard explored new ways to spark his curiosity through metalcasting and forging. Howard and his classmates learned sand casting firsthand, using wooden letters as patterns to pack sand into a hollow mold. After melting aluminum to about 1,300°F, they poured the melted metal into the mold to create their first castings.

Howard cast a solid aluminum “T,” for Ty, small enough to fit in the palm of his mother’s hand.

“Mom was like, ‘Oh, I love it. I see you did a great job and it’s a really nice shape,’” Howard recalled her reaction after the workshop. “I showed her what I did to clean up the metal,” he added, filing down the rough edges by hand.

Isaac Murray, 17, said his favorite part of the workshop was forging: heating metal to a fire-red before hammering it into a desired shape. The finishing touch? Stamping it with a METAL logo.

“I was shocked we were going to get experience with molds and casting and learn in-depth information about different kinds of metals,” Murry said through the interpreter. “It would be a great opportunity for anybody.”

For Thomas Drye, a UT research associate who led the workshop with METAL, the goal is introducing students to careers in metal manufacturing they might not know about.

“When I was in high school, there weren’t a lot of experiences like this,” Drye said. In one study, almost 60% of Gen Z said they might have been interested in manufacturing careers if they’d been exposed to related opportunities in school.

“Now the kids know, ‘I’ve done casting. I know a little bit about what this is,’” Drye said. “They have familiarity if they go into a foundry and apply for a job. There are plenty of workarounds to support them on the job today. All you need is ambition and drive.”

Introducing deaf students to metal manufacturing also means addressing a key concern for employers: workplace accessibility.

Making Manufacturing Accessible

“How do we make it safe?” is the first question manufacturers ask Dr. Linda Bryant and James Mallory at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s Center for Workforce Development when hiring deaf and hard of hearing employees.

Established in 2025, the center connects deaf and hard of hearing people with in-demand technical jobs through training, job placement and transition support. It also helps employers and training programs like METAL create safe, inclusive manufacturing environments.

“My mantra has always been that the deaf and hard of hearing population is an untapped resource for companies and industries with vacancies or high demand,” said Bryant, the center’s director. “Should people open their minds and accept them into positions, employers find they’re very capable and valuable to the company and the economy.”

In the U.S., about 54% of deaf people are employed, compared to 70% of hearing people, according to the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes. The employment gap widens further for deaf people from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds.

However, accessibility in manufacturing is often possible through simple changes. Mallory, a professor and technical workforce development specialist, encourages trainers to use clear language, visual demonstrations and technology for communication when interpreters aren’t present. On the shop or foundry floor, blinking lights and mirrors can help enhance safety. In facilities built with industry best practices in mind, changes may not be needed for deaf and hard of hearing employees.

“There is no typical deaf person. It’s not one size fits all,” Mallory said. “Modifications are based on the employer and the worker. A lot of times the changes are small — and if they’re good for deaf and hard of hearing people, they’re good for everybody.”

Jerrolds noted that onboarding deaf employees can feel daunting for manufacturers, which is why industry relationships and education are important.

“It’s new territory for them and they see it as a big question mark,” Jerrolds said. “That’s one reason I try to get students into work-based learning experiences and job shadowing. It’s as much for the employers as it is for the student.”

A Limitless Future in Metal

With the right tools, resources and support, the Deaf community can excel in manufacturing careers. Nathan Montoya, a career and technical education teacher at TSD, said he felt at home in METAL’s workshop alongside his students. Montoya, who is deaf, has a background in mechanical engineering.

“It’s all about exposure,” he said through the interpreter. “Let the students get their hands dirty. I want to see more of that. The industry is doing this for the students, showing them how they can have a career in this field.”

Howard has another year until graduation, but he’s already revved up to pursue a career in automotive manufacturing. He hopes to use his skills in welding, mechanics and metalcasting to build everything from cars and trucks to motorcycles and roll cages. Through METAL, Howard gained the momentum to shift his future into gear.

“I felt really great there. I never experienced anything that was a fun lab I could learn in, and I learned quite a bit,” Howard said about the workshop. “I just want the opportunity to learn and to have experience so when I go and work, I’ve learned what I need.”

Ready to cast America’s future? If you’re a teacher, school administrator, or parent interested in bringing METAL’s K-12 initiatives to your school or community, fill out our contact form.

Ignite your future in metal today: Start METAL’s free online training and visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp or workshop near you.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing and interested in new career opportunities — or you’re an employer looking to hire talented, motivated workers — the NTID Center for Workforce Development can help you get started. Visit the NCWD website or email NCWD@rit.edu to learn more.

Anderson County Students Experience Forging Firsthand at UT Knoxville

Original source: WBIR

Students from Anderson County, Tennessee, recently visited our partners at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) for an immersive, hands-on forging workshop. During the session, students explored the properties of metal through a series of interactive activities that connected classroom concepts with real-world applications in metallurgy and materials science.

Their first activity was clay forging, which introduced them to the behavior of metal under heat by using modeling clay to simulate how metal behaves during the forging process. Students practiced drawing out and upsetting the clay, then pressed images into their finished pieces before setting them to cure.

Next came sand casting, where students used their 3D-printed designs from school to create molds and pour molten tin, transforming their digital models into tangible cast shapes. Meanwhile, small groups took turns participating in induction forging, heating metal “lollipops” until they were red hot, then hammering their initials into them.

Watch the full coverage here

From Workshops to Workforce: UT Knoxville Forges the Future of Manufacturing in Tennessee

The first time Stephen Sheriff cast metal – a replica of the Wizard of Oz’s Tin Man – in front of an auditorium of elementary school students, he was hooked. Now, alongside his colleagues at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), he’s determined to give students and job seekers exciting, in-person forging experiences.

Sheriff, who’s an engineer and research associate with the Fiber Composites Manufacturing Facility at Innovation South, is part of a team of almost 30 UTK staff and students who are bringing metalcasting to communities in East Tennessee.

In partnership with METAL, a program led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, with funding from the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program, UTK has hosted four bootcamps for adults interested in metalcasting and 20 K-12 workshops. Both bootcamps and workshops cover metalcasting basics, including techniques for sand and investment casting. But now forging is becoming just as important to UTK’s education programs.

Forging, the art of blacksmiths and swordmakers, is the process of re-shaping metal using extreme pressure to form a high-strength tool. Unlike casting, where metal is melted down, poured and cooled to become a new creation, a forger hammers, presses, or rolls solid metal into shape. Most of the time, forgers heat the metal to make it more pliable, but not always. A metal part can be both cast and then forged to completion—and both processes are critical to modern manufacturing.

Today, there are about 3,000 stamping and forging companies in the U.S., but this number is declining. More than 240 forging plants closed and 21,000 jobs were eliminated as manufacturing left the U.S. However, the importance of forging is only growing for industry innovation and national security. Forging is necessary to produce critical parts in automotive, transportation, aerospace, energy and defense industries—from hand tools, hooks and chains to navy ships and fighter jets.

“When people think of forging, they think of Forged in Fire or making anvils, knives and horseshoes—that sort of thing,” Sheriff explained. “We’re exposing students to the differences between cast and forged parts and how you’re affected by them every day.”

New Irons In the Fire

Sheriff loves the spark he sees in students when they learn how metal can be transformed. This spring, he awed students at Seymour Primary School with a live sand casting demonstration, bringing one of their favorite characters to life at the school’s annual Book Bash.

Now, as UTK plans to roll out a new K-12 blacksmithing workshop, Sheriff is ready to create more moments that spark curiosity for forging.

“Seeing kids light up about what we’re doing is great,” he said. “When students get that metal part from whatever pattern they picked in their hands, and say, ‘This is really cool, I want to learn how to do this,’ it turns into a career or a hobby.”

Sheriff’s team recently tested the blacksmithing workshop’s new curriculum, which will include lessons on how to shape metal and use a forging press. Middle and high school students will have the opportunity to practice heating and flattening steel with an anvil before stamping the puck with a design.

One of the most important goals for Sheriff is helping students overcome their fear of working with red-hot metal.

“A lot of people are very intimidated when you hand them a piece of metal that’s glowing orange,” he said. “Some students might have experience with shop safety, but when you get students that aren’t involved with those types of activities, you need more time with them.”

Sheriff said clay forging will be one activity offered to help students practice without feeling the heat. Polymer modeling clay moves similarly to hot metal, Sheriff explained. With a palm-sized clay cube, students will use a plastic ballpoint hammer to draw the shape out and then stamp it with UTK’s “Power T” before baking it into a finished forging.

“I’m looking forward to getting students involved,” Sheriff said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Soon, UTK’s blacksmithing workshop will be available to schools across East Tennessee.

The university is also adding an introduction to forging to their free week-long bootcamps. UTK’s bootcamps, hosted in partnership with METAL, offer college students, professionals and career seekers a rare, hands-on opportunity to learn about metallurgy—from designing 3D molds, to melting, pouring and casting metal, to now forging a finished product.

Dustin Gilmer, an assistant professor in materials science and engineering at UTK who helps lead the bootcamps, believes forging skills will better prepare tomorrow’s workforce.

“We were up and running really quickly with casting, but forging is a little bit more specialized,” Gilmer said. Through partnerships with METAL, Pennsylvania State University, and The Ohio State University, UTK is developing a forging curriculum for bootcamp participants who see a future for themselves in manufacturing.

“We’re looking for people who think they have a career in this industry, and we’re trying to get them ready to enter the workforce,” Gilmer said. “That’s the goal of the bootcamps.”

Gilmer and his team plan to incorporate forging lessons and hands-on learning into UTK’s December bootcamp.

Forging Community

Beyond skills training, Gilmer and Sheriff are focused on connecting students and bootcamp participants to the forging community.

“We’ve lost a lot of this type of manufacturing in the U.S.,” Sheriff said. “We haven’t refreshed our workforce, and as foundry employees retire, there’s not many people coming up behind them learning the craft.”

The good news is, more than 3.8 million U.S. jobs will be there for metalworkers, engineers and manufacturing professionals who are ready to make an impact in the next decade. Gilmer said he’s been surprised by the number of metallurgical opportunities and support he’s found in Tennessee.

“When we first started our programs, I would’ve said we do not have a good metalcasting ecosystem. Since then, I have been proven wrong,” Gilmer said. “Having people champion us at the local level is why we’re so successful.”

For UTK’s team, the future of manufacturing starts with auditoriums of wide-eyed students and foundries where eager learners can discover the magic of metallurgy.

“The first time you see somebody pouring molten metal, it’s an experience,” Gilmer said. “It’s something you don’t usually forget.”

Ready to forge your future? Register for our free online training then visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp or workshop near you.

Firing Up Success: William Goehl Launches His Manufacturing Career with METAL

During a week-long METAL bootcamp at the University of Tennessee, mechanical engineering student William Goehl gained the experience to design and forge a scratch mold, medallion and a mug through the investment casting process.

William Goehl always considered himself a jack of all trades. Growing up fixing old cars with his dad and driving go-karts inspired him to pursue a career in the high-performance automotive industry – and thanks to METAL, Goehl received the hands-on experience he needed to propel his career.

As the U.S. faces a surging demand for skilled metalcasting and manufacturing professionals, METAL, led by IACMI – The Composites Institute® with funding from the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program, is strengthening and diversifying the metal manufacturing workforce. With a focus on casting, forging and plate rolling, METAL’s workforce development programs deliver hands-on experience to people of all ages.

Goehl, a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, learned about METAL his senior year. Striving toward his dream of supporting the racing industry, Goehl focused his studies on material science and aerospace. He wanted a career where he could combine his engineering knowledge and creativity with the sport he loved, but he also knew the jobs he sought were extremely competitive.

He’d need a way to boost his chances – and his career.

“F1 race cars are like airplanes on the ground because their parts are made to airplane specs,” Goehl said. “With my educational background, I can do aerospace or automotive, which at the highest level are becoming one industry.”

Goehl specifically wanted to focus on engineering tight tolerances, or extremely precise measurements for maximizing performance, reliability and safety in manufacturing, especially at high speeds. A deeper understanding of metalcasting felt like the best way to get ahead and earn his spot in automotive and aerospace innovation.

Supercharged with Metalcasting

While most UT college students enjoyed downtime during spring break, Goehl was on campus gaining metalcasting experience in a week-long METAL bootcamp. Greg Harrell, a METAL workforce coordinator with more than 20 years of metalcasting experience, said Goehl’s curiosity and work ethic immediately stood out to him.

“Will always came in early and stayed late. He had valuable hands-on learning already instilled in him and that’s exactly what engineers need,” Harrell said. “You need to take what you learn in the classroom and be mechanically inclined to apply it. That’s such an advantage in the casting and forging industries.”

Through METAL’s online and in-person learning opportunities, Goehl got a first-hand look at the investment casting process – from mixing slurry for a mold, to firing up the furnace to strengthen the shell and Goehl’s favorite part, pouring molten metal to form the final product. He also observed sand casting for the first time which is often used to cast heavy machinery such as engine blocks, machine bases and wind turbine hubs.

Goehl previously attended an ACE bootcamp, another IACMI workforce development program that focuses on CNC machining. In the ACE program, Goehl designed and built an air piston engine for the first time. By applying dynamic techniques for drilling, roughing and finishing the engine, Goehl learned critical skills to manufacture an essential part used in pneumatic tools, lifting systems and assembly robotics in the automotive industry.

Goehl said these experiences were eye-opening and he wouldn’t have received this training anywhere else.

“The hands-on experience helps you learn what’s possible,” Goehl said. “You can design parts and think about how they’ll be made so we can make it easier for metalcasters who are doing the work every day.”

Thanks to his training in metalcasting, Goehl’s career has taken off in one of his dream fields – the aerospace industry.

Forging a New Path

After attending METAL’s bootcamp, Goehl applied at Howmet Aerospace, based in Morristown, TN, with his new credentials and was quickly met with a job offer within weeks of graduating. There, he’ll have the opportunity to apply his metalcasting experience to build molds for high-performance industry solutions, such as more fuel-efficient engines for airplanes and gas turbines and longer-lasting aluminum truck wheels.

Without METAL, Goehl said he wouldn’t be the mechanical engineer he is today.

“I probably still wouldn’t fully understand what I understand now. Learning about manufacturing and metalcasting in class and actually using casting methods are two different things,” Goehl said. “I will be an accomplished engineer quicker because of this program.”

Since 2023, METAL has trained 336 workshop participants, placed 16 interns and reached more than 2,000 prospective metal workers. Through university bootcamps across the country, METAL is planting the seeds of a brighter, more resilient future – showing students what’s possible in the vital, often overlooked, metallurgy industry.

William Goehl, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Tennessee, participated in printing 3D sand molds that were used to cast the base of an air piston engine during his METAL bootcamp, similar to the base machined during his hands-on ACE training experience.

William Goehl, left, pours slurry into a mold that will later be used in the investment casting process during a week-long METAL bootcamp at the University of Tennessee.