Coach’s Corner

The chaos and beauty of March Madness is back again. We’re about to see who will become our next champs, the best team, and the future legends.

My favorite part about March Madness is the Cinderella story. Every time these teams make their way through the tournament, there’s a common theme. They are in unison in every aspect of the game. Every player, whether you are the star or the sixth man, knows their role and plays together as one unit.

This is how to succeed on the court and off it. Working together and doing your job is how companies, communities and our military fulfill their missions. I’m pleased to see it happening right here in Genesee County. And I’m excited to share how our students are already part of these missions.

In partnership with the United States Navy Maritime Industrial Base, the www.buildsubmarines.com effort aims to train the next generation of individuals who will be responsible for the transformation of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

It is estimated that the Navy will require the addition of 200,000 skilled workers ranging from fields in welding, CNC technicians, and manufacturing. These are the job skills that our students have been getting first-hand experience in from local career pathway opportunities. 

To complement the Build Submarines initiative at the local level, our workforce and manufacturing partners are implementing programs that are supporting the future careers that will solidify the United States Navy’s position as the protector of our seas.

It’s a mission that starts in Genesee County. 

One of our county’s largest employers, Graham Manufacturing, is a global leader in the design and manufacture of mission critical fluid, power, heat transfer and vacuum technologies for the defense shipbuilding industry. Graham Manufacturing continues to increase their commitment to US Navy shipbuilding in order to meet the demanding cadence of our nation’s submarine construction requirements, resulting in increased local employment opportunities. 

Genesee Valley BOCES offers instruction in CNC technician skillsets that transfer to careers in manufacturing, defense, and high-tech sectors. Genesee Community College and Genesee Valley BOCES are also partnering to provide a CNC FANUC industry-recognized credential for their graduating seniors this spring. This partnership would not be possible without funding from The Heckscher Foundation For Children and SUNY Pre-Apprenticeship grant funding.

Students also utilize state-of-the-art equipment provided by funding from the GCEDC in local apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship pathways that have connected students to in-demand careers at local companies, including Graham Manufacturing, Oxbo, Nortera, and others. 

One of Genesee Community College’s newest programs starting in fall 2025 is offering an
accelerated certification course as a welding technician. The certification is recognized by the American Welding Society and National Workforce Career Association as essential to entry-level employment in this field. Students who complete this program have the option of participating in an internship with a local company.

With these programs and opportunities, the pathway for each of our children to go from a student to a critical part of our country’s defense is here. And unlike March Madness, this pathway to success doesn’t require a buzzer beater, a bad call, or any upsets. Just the willingness for all of us to work together.

We will continue to keep our students on the path and connect them to the careers that support our local economy, including through the Build Submarines program.

Visit www.gcedc.com/workforceprograms to access our free career checklist, featuring eight
essential steps to jumpstart your professional journey.

If you are a student, parent, teacher, or guidance counselor, contact me at csuozzi@gcedc.com to learn how to get involved today!

Go Bills!

Chris “Coach SwazZ” Suozzi is the Executive Vice President of Business & Workforce Development at the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

Having a winning gameplan starts with knowing your strengths and quickly understanding what is going to work on the field. I think we’ve seen that with the start of the Bills season – when the gameplan works, we’re winning comfortably against Jacksonville and Miami. When it doesn’t we’re losing to Baltimore and Houston.

I’m impressed by how scripting the first 15 plays of the game to test out a gameplan has continued for decades. And I see this “game script” as a best practice that we’ve brought to so many students in the GLOW Region.

Our students and businesses don’t need to gameplan every single play because they realize the benefits of a short game script executed so well at GLOW With Your Hands. 

The GLOW With Your Hands: Manufacturing and Healthcare events give students a clear direction on the careers they’ve love at companies right in our backyard. Since 2019, we have welcomed over 5,000 students at the Genesee County Fairgrounds in the fall and Genesee Community College in the spring.

Parents of our GLOW With Your Hands participants, your kids have been incredible! They have a lot of fun at these events, but they also have taken these hands-on experiences and opportunities to talk with employers and professionals seriously. Companies growing in the GLOW Region have told us it’s the quality of this generation of future leaders that gives them confidence to expand their workforces.  

And Parents, there are good-paying jobs ready for your kids. 

Careers without college debt or minimal debt like new tech/skilled trades programs at GCC. 

Opportunities to succeed and advance. 

And we have a gameplan that you can be a part of! 

Whether your student attended GLOW With Your Hands this year or not, I want to invite you to the next step we recommend to every student at the event – start exploring a career in a great training program.

Genesee Valley BOCES is hosting open houses for prospective students at their Batavia and Mt. Morris campuses in the coming weeks. BOCES programs in Mechatronics, CNC machining, and welding guide students directly into in-demand careers, apprenticeships and no-debt paths to earning up to $60k + a year to earning at total of $1 million in their first 12 years of employment.

I want to see you at the Batavia campus for an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 23, or with our peers in Mt. Morris from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 24. 

Discover pathways for your child outside a traditional high school classroom. Interact with instructors and staff from great programs like the three I’ve recommended. 

Our region has adapted to the workforce development-focused blueprint we have implemented in Genesee County and our region.

Our students need to take advantage of these opportunities, and I am here to assist them take along the way. We just need to stick to the gameplan!

Visit www.gcedc.com/careerchecklist to access our free career checklist, featuring eight essential steps to jumpstart your professional journey. 

If you are a student, parent, teacher, or guidance counselor contact me at csuozzi@gcedc.com to learn how to get involved today!

Chris “Coach SwazZ” Suozzi is the Executive Vice President of Business & Workforce Development at the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

We’ve hit the time of year when we rally around our high school teams, and I could not be prouder of what I’m seeing.

Our student-athletes are doing tremendous work.

It doesn’t go unnoticed in our schools, our families, and our communities. And our employers are cheering along too!

I was watching Le Roy finish their football season in the playoffs last weekend on a beautiful fall day. The season didn’t end the way the Oatkan Knights wanted, but each and every student in our fall sports season has showed the skills they will bring in the future.

Our student-athletes are clearly hard workers. Our companies love that these kids see the challenges in front of them, know what it takes to achieve their goals, and that opportunities are not just given. Our companies see student-athletes are coachable and are excelling in team environments.

I saw those skills across our entire region at GLOW With Your Hands. We had another great day of career experiences and conversations at the end of September.

More than 1,200 students have now participated in the event, meeting with dozens of manufacturers, skilled trades professionals, and our food production industry. After a year of video conferencing, having so much direct interactions with equipment and employers was energizing!

GLOW With Your Hands shows that we have the talent that companies need. The next generation of manufacturing leaders will come from our high school students who are already on a college or career pathway.  Students on a career pathway can get into an in-demand job and receive on-the-job training with little or no student debt.

I wish we could do GLOW With Your Hands every weekend, but this year’s event couldn’t have come at a better time.

In the past month, Genesee County has welcomed two more major projects in our green field developments. Like our playing fields, these projects require and reward the skills shown at GLOW With Your Hands and in across our schools this fall.

On Oct. 20, Plug Power broke ground at STAMP on the single-largest project investment ever in Genesee County. A week later, Liberty Pumps celebrated an expansion that will bring their membership above 300 people in Bergen. At the same time, multiple projects are building in both downtown Batavia and the Gateway II Business Park/Saile Drive corridor.

These are outstanding projects. They represent how our economy will continue to grow.

Most importantly, Plug Power and Liberty Pumps alone will be adding 100 new permanent jobs. And there’s plenty of construction jobs on display at both sites.

Even with companies growing and labor availability challenges across our country, filling these new jobs is a challenge that Genesee County is ready to answer.

And its our student-athletes that lead the solution.

I watched Le Roy senior leader Zach Vanderhoof on the field last weekend – and I’ve seen Zach guide younger students through the mechatronics training area at GLOW With Your Hands. I’ve seen him stand up as one of the first youth apprentices drafted by a local company last spring, and excel at Genesee Valley BOCES.

And he’s not alone. Since launching GLOW With Your Hands, the enrollment at Genesee Valley BOCES’ career and technical education centers has increased 30%.  Parents are realizing that not every student is meant for college or book learning.  The applied learning format, coupled with real life work experiences in high school, is a great route that leads to a fantastic career with a local company.  

Chris Suozzi is the Vice President of Business & Workforce Development at the Genesee County Economic Development Center