PRESS PHOTO BY PAUL WILLISTEIN

2014 Lehigh Valley Skill Up Partnership "What's So Cool About Manufacturing" Video Contest winners, from left, in front, are Northampton Area Middle School Principal Patrice Turner, students Aliza Bodzin, Alexandra Horvath and Analiese Datis-Cordero, and, second row, Northampton Area Middle School gifted teacher Sharon Skrapits; students Austin Frey, Faith Fritz, Larisa Calvo and Nicole Somers, and Districtwide technology lead teacher John Bendekovits. Northampton Area School District received the Outstanding Educaitonal Value Award for the students' video about Bitronics, a Bethlehem-based manufacturer of electrical power measurement and recording devices used in electric utility transmission and distribution substations. The students attended a recent school board meeting to be recognized. Contest awards were presented recently at the Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown. Middle school student teams from 16 public school disricts in Lehigh and Northampton counties and Sacred Heart School in Allentown were honored by representatives from 20 regional manufacturing companies. The Northampton students enjoyed the experience so much that, at the encouragement of Moore Elementary School Principal Curtis Dimmick, they taped and produced a Moore Township Elementary School introductory video."We intend to show it at our school orientation," Dimmick said.