More than two dozen high school students in the Vicksburg Warren School District toured local businesses to learn more about manufacturing.

Eight students from Warren Central High School and 20 from Vicksburg High School participated in National Manufacturing Day Oct. 7, and got an insight into how products are made at International Paper, Mississippi TanTec Leather, Unified Brands and Laclede Chain.

Students said the one-day tour was very educational.

Devin Vega, a junior at Warren Central, watched as chain was made at Laclede.

“I didn’t even know this place existed until a few weeks ago when I was told about the tour,” Vega, who plans to attend the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, said. “Now I know that you don’t just have to have a good degree to get a job somewhere and that you don’t need to have a college education to get job at a factory like this.”

She would like to become a chemical or petroleum engineer.

Students also realized that women play a more prominent role in the manufacturing industry.

“I thought it was really cool that a woman was the (plant) manager because that’s something that I want to do,” Marin Sherwin, a freshman at Warren Central, said. She would like to attend Virginia Tech and earn an automotive degree in engineering and return home to Vicksburg.

Alex Lawson, a sophomore at Warren Central, said she was surprised by the number of women working at Laclede Chain.

“And the jobs they have to do,” Lawson, who would like to be an engineer, surgeon or architect, said.

Lindsey Jordan, ACME Academy Lead at Warren Central, said the experience was eye opening for the students.

“These tours give the students exposure to jobs or careers that they never knew existed,” Jordan said.