The back-to-school bells are ringing across New Hampshire this week and students are getting back to the business of learning.

Coinciding with the start of another academic year, Gov. Hassan and Commissioner Rose have launched the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest. Aimed at 8^th graders, the contest will pair students with a local manufacturer with a goal of introducing them to the prospects in advanced manufacturing that await them when they graduate in just a few years.

Through their lens, they will have fun exploring the manufacturing process, the cool things things made right here in the Granite State and a possible career opportunities.

“By creating partnerships between job-creating manufacturing companies and local schools, the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest will help our students understand that they can stay in New Hampshire and find jobs here that are interesting and exciting,” Gov. Hassan said. “This contest will also help build relationships that can lead to a stronger workforce pipeline to fill the jobs that growing businesses are creating here in New Hampshire, helping this critical industry continue to thrive.”

Nashua High School helped us in producing a pilot video. Students partnered with Johnson Precision in Hudson and together, they came up with a terrific video that even has a twist at the end. (Click here to view it.)

“This video contest is a great introduction for students to meet their local manufacturers – manufacturers they may pass on their way to school every day,” Commissioner Rose said. “The contest brings both of them together so that these companies can showcase exciting opportunities to the students, some of whom may well become employees in a few years. Advanced manufacturing and our middle school students are the future in New Hampshire and this is a way for them to connect.”

Students and their advisers can begin working with a local manufacturer on the video at the start of the 2014-2015 school year and must submit their projects by Dec. 1. A winner will be selected in early 2015 and we are working on some really great prizes for the winning videos.

Teachers interested in taking part can get more information here on partnering with a local manufacturer, as well as video contest rules. You may also contact me at 271-2341 or via email.

Lights! Camera! Action! We can’t wait to see your video.

Lorna Colquhoun

Communications Director

Division of Economic Development

Carmen Lorentz of the NH Division of Economic Development and Alex Ray of the Common Man

The redevelopment of the Hooksett Welcome Centers, north and southbound on Interstate 93, has been watched by daily commuters since construction began.

Now, the liquor store and convenience store on the northbound side are getting ready to open in the next few weeks; southbound will follow in a few months.

On our monthly radio show, New Hampshire Business Matters, on WTPL 107.7 FM, Carmen Lorentz, director of the Division of Economic Development, talked with Alex Ray of the Common Man, about the project and how it is going to do more than welcome visitors to our great state.

Listen in on the link below.

Lorna Colquhoun

Communications Director

NH Division of Economic Development

If you’re a frequent driver along Interstate 93, you’ve watched the Hooksett Welcome Center redevelopment take shape on both sides of the highway.

It has been a pretty amazing project that is coming together out of a unique public-private partnership (between the State of New Hampshire and Granite State Hospitality).

Coming together quickly, we might add. In a little more than a month, the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet Stores will open on both sides of the highway, along with the convenience store and the restrooms on the northbound side. Those amenities will open southbound in December and a grand opening for both centers will happen next spring.

If you are a just-the-facts kind of person, here are some interesting stats:

– About 200 workers are onsite daily at the two centers;

– Over 95 percent of the workers, contractors, subcontractors and materials are from New Hampshire;

– Monthly construction expenditures average about $3 million;

– Over 3 million visitors will stop at the centers annually.

We took a tour recently of the northbound center, which, you will see in the video, is coming along nicely. What a great way to greet visitors on their journeys to the Granite State.

Lorna Colquhoun

Communications Director

NH Division of Economic Development