When Hannah Kemmet first walked into a summer camp at age 10, she had no idea she was taking the first step on a path that would one day bring her full circle—from eager student to inspiring instructor.
Now a rising senior at Penn State Behrend and an IACMI intern, Hannah has been instrumental in shaping the Made in America program, an interactive summer course that teaches kids the fundamentals of casting, forging, and modern manufacturing—with just enough chocolate to keep things sweet.
A Trailblazer in METAL
As a college sophomore, Hannah was the very first student to sign up for the pilot bootcamp with the new program at Penn State, METAL (Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning). Her advisor Paul Lynch was helping stand up the national initiative for casting and forging, supported by the Department of Defense IBAS program and led by IACMI—The Composites Institute®. Hannah was getting her degree in Industrial Engineering and was looking for creative opportunities.
“I’m definitely a hands-on learner. I have to see it to do it,” Hannah told us in January 2024. By February she was helping with a STEAM fair where hundreds of young kids were seeing poured metal for the first time, and by March, she was spending her spring break casting aluminum and bronze.
“My favorite part was making the steins with the lost foam process,” she says. “It’s how engine blocks used to be made. I’m currently putting a new engine in my truck, and when I look at it, I think, ‘Wow! I know how that was made! I’ve done that!’”
Hannah’s curiosity and enthusiasm made her the ideal candidate to join IACMI as an intern, primarily to support Dr. Lynch as he developed the METAL curriculum for multiple audiences. How were they going to inspire young people and educate their parents to consider pursuing advanced manufacturing—to even get it on their radar? For 33 years, Penn State Behrend had been offering College for Kids, a summer camp with 190 classes for ages 6-14. This was the perfect avenue.
Bring on the Fun!
Hannah shares, “When I was young, I took College for Kids classes like Dissection, Sculpting, and even one called Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It was a wide range from dissecting owl pellets to making lip gloss. And I remember thinking ‘this is summer camp, not school; we’re here to have fun!’”
She kept that top of mind last summer, as she helped plan and run 3-hour additions to Engineering Challenges and Chemistry. Kids as young as kindergarteners were pounding sand molds, to take home metal keepsakes like smiley faces, starfish, and baseballs.
“The kids were super into it,” Hannah remembers. “It was something totally different, something they’d never done before or even heard of. Then after, a lot of them were like oh, I want to be an engineer or work in metallurgy.”
The experiment was such a hit that College for Kids asked Dr. Lynch’s team to run week-long camps with a focus on manufacturing. Their challenge: how do we plan age-appropriate activities for a wide range of techniques that will keep them engaged for five days? Once again, Dr. Lynch turned to Hannah.
“With her wide technical background and outreach experience, I knew Hannah was the perfect fit for this,” he says. “I told her preparation is paramount.”
So, as lead instructor, Hannah prepared a curriculum for kids who love to build, explore, and create. They start with 3D printing, where they print custom name plaques and wind-up cars which they assemble. The next two days they move onto sandcasting, where they mold and pour tin objects like the Nittany lion, Lake Erie fish, and METAL keychains. Thursday, they melt chocolate into food-grade molds; getting to eat their creations is a definite bonus. They wrap up the week with a showcase for their parents to see how all these methods are connected.
“I didn’t just want to send home the items they made,” says Hannah. “I wanted the kids to show and explain to their parents what they did and how they did it. They were proud to display their work. And for the kids whose parents already work in manufacturing, they realized, ‘Oh my gosh, I get to see what my parents do all day!’”
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Looking back on six weeks of camps and working with 154 students, Hannah shares, “Their favorite parts were melting the metal, eating the chocolate, and smashing the molds. It was messy, a little chaotic, and they absolutely loved it.”
But the kids weren’t the only ones learning. This has helped Hannah reflect on her skills and interests as she plans to make her next career move after graduation.
“On parent day, I got to talk with one dad who works at Electric Materials. As he described what he did, I thought it sounded way different from what I’ve seen in other factories. I haven’t found the thing I want to do every day,” she admits, “but this class helped me see something about myself: I like understanding why problems occur and how to fix them–the whole process from start to finish.”
Dr. Lynch adds, “I’ve seen tremendous growth in Hannah these past two years—from her technical education to work ethic to leadership. She was recently elected president of our student chapter of the American Foundry Society, and this will be her fourth year with Cast in Steel. I don’t know where she’ll end up, but I’m very happy to see that growth.”
Whatever is next for Hannah, you can bet it will be something hands-on. From dissecting frogs at age 10 to teaching kids how to cast metal a decade later, she’s living proof of what these programs can spark—and sustain.
Photo Credits: Heather Cass, Penn State Behrend