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More than 2,000 eighth-grade students from schools around the region attended the Pee Dee Pathways event Thursday at the Southeastern Institute for Manufacturing Technology.

About 60 vendors from area businesses set up booths in the conference center and main lobby of Florence-Darlington Technical College’s SIMT building, 1951 Pisgah Road in Florence. Many of the stalls featured hands-on exhibits and demonstrations of on-the-job activities.

Debbie Jones, SC Department of Workforce and Development regional workforce adviser and Pee Dee Pathway's de facto organizer, said in an interview that the event is “a collaboration between education, industry and community partners to help students connect what they're learning in school to real-world careers,” adding that it’s the first regional event of its kind.

Vendors represented such fields as manufacturing, healthcare, STEM, education, agriculture, finance, first responders, government and hospitality. These included some of the largest employers in the Pee Dee: American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Nucor Corp., Schaeffler Group USA Inc., Sonoco Products Co., McLeod Health, MUSC Health, and Duke Energy Corp., as well as Florence County and city, Florence-Darlington Technical College, GE Healthcare, Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Smurfit Westrock. Even representatives from local sports teams the Florence Flamingos and Pee Dee Icecats turned out.

Jones said she had tasked each vendor to “bring interactive activity to engage the students.”

One of McLeod’s exhibits featured high-fidelity mannequins that simulated respiratory airway training and personal protective equipment for clinicians in the work area, according to Ingrid Cherry, workforce development manager at McLeod Health.

Duke Energy Construction and Maintenance Specialist Brice James explained that his booth demonstrates how a linemen would use a pole to replace the fuse link on an overhead circuit.

Retired NASA instructor Fred Wilson, of Florence, had set up a booth with weather-related data acquisition equipment. He said he teaches after-school STEM at area schools and that he had been teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics since before it was called STEM. “Everyone just calls me Mr. Fred,” he said.

GE Healthcare, which manufactures MRI machines at its Florence plant, demonstrated MRI equipment at its booth, while representatives from the FBI simulated a crime-scene investigation at theirs.

According to Jones, the original plan had called for some demonstrations, such as a firetruck and an ambulance, to be held outdoors. McLeod would have exhibited its helicopter, and Mr. Fred would have brought a weather balloon. However, freezing temperatures overnight during the week leading up to Jan. 29 precipitated cancellation of the outdoor segment. Jones said she was disappointed. “We decided to move everything inside,” she said. “We don't have the capacity to put a fire truck inside ... but I can bring firemen in, and they can still let [students] know what they do.”

Some 22 groups sponsored Pee Dee Pathways 2026, including McLeod, Sonoco, Pee Dee Area Health Education Center, Wyman-Gordon, Smurfit Westrock and Duke Energy Foundation, among others. Jones said the Florence County Economic Development Partnership was a “huge supporter and sponsor helping with the [organizing] committee.”

Another key partner has been the Eastern Carolina Community Foundation, Pee Dee Pathway's 501(c)(3) arm, Jones said in an email. “The foundation holds a Pee Dee Pathways fund so that we can accept sponsorships,” she said. “They then grant out the funds to the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments to pay any expenses.”

Pee Dee Pathways also enlisted a volunteer staff of about 50 people, gleaned from SCDEW and local schools, businesses, governments and economic development agencies.

Jones said she was pleased with the number of vendors, businesses and industries participating. “You always want more, but I think this is a great number and great start.”

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