FRENCHTOWN — Students from a pair of Mineral County Schools were given a tour of Montana Knife Company’s manufacturing facility as part of National Manufacturing Day,
“I think it’s important with high school kids to have them understand that there’s a different path in life between maybe the traditional college route and the route a lot of people make," said Montana Knife Company CEO Josh Smith. "I think this is an opportunity for these students that I never got to see in school."
It may seem hard to find a good-paying job without a college degree these days but Montana Knife Company showed some high school students what can be done without one.
“It feels good honestly, like I don’t have to go to college and go for five years of schooling and pay $20,000," Superior High School student Phin Cataldo told MTN.
For Josh Smith, who started making knives at age 11 and is now the CEO of Montana Knife Company, showing the students around means more than just giving a tour. He noted that he didn’t have such an opportunity in high school and didn’t realize the possibilities that were out there.
“They have to see that for themselves and I think that by bringing them in here, we are showing them what’s possible,” Smith explained. “A lot of times growing up in a tiny town you don’t understand what you’re capable of and what your dreams can actually be and how much you can accomplish.”
The students who toured the manufacturing floor of Montana Knife Company came away with a new sense of what can be done after high school, largely thanks to Smith and the efforts that he put forward to show the students that with a little hard work and determination, just about anything is possible.
“Actually getting to hear the owner’s story of building knives at 11 and just kinda building his dream from the ground up, it was pretty inspiring,” remarked Superior High School student Oscar Wolff.
“I hope the biggest takeaway for these kids is that just because they come from a small town, that doesn’t have to limit how big their dreams are,” said Smith.
That takeaway wasn’t missed by the students as they walked away from the tour with a little more pep in their step, after seeing what the future could hold for them.
“You can be making a lot of money right out the bat from high school, you don’t need to have a college education. And these guys will actually, depending on how hard you work you can actually get promoted to like supervisors. I think he said they have 21-year-olds that are in charge of 50-year-olds,” said Wolff.
