Perham High students' 70-cent phone-holder idea yields 400-unit order

A low-cost idea from Perham High students turned into a sizable contract when Jacket Manufacturing was hired to produce 400 3D-printed phone holders for a Minnesota Principals’ Association conference. The project gave roughly 15 students practical manufacturing experience and brought extra revenue to the student-run program.

The phone holder cost about 70 cents to produce and Jacket Manufacturing agreed to make them for $3 a piece, Sandeen said. At $3 each, the 400-unit run amounts to $1,200 when multiplied out. The order began when a school administrator asked whether the high school’s 3D printers could make a device to hold his phone. Students added a Yellowjacket logo to the prototype to give it extra pizazz, and when Perham High School Principal Ehren Zimmerman saw the holder he asked if the team could design one with the principal’s association logo and colors, Sandeen said.

Jacket Manufacturing is run by students with the help of adviser Nancy Sandeen, who teaches industrial tech classes at the high school. The program is hired to create and build many items for businesses, organizations and individuals, Sandeen said, and the principals’ conference order became one of the larger jobs the class has taken on.

Once pieces were printed, the Jacket Manufacturing crew set up an assembly line of about 15 students. Extra filament from the printed objects was scraped off, pieces were assembled, screwed and glued, and a student assigned to quality control checked each finished item. "They are all printed and done," Wegscheid said. "Getting 400 items was up there for a top order (in quantity)," Wegscheid said. "But we do a lot of projects that range between $800 and $1,200."

Students gained leadership and technical experience through the project. Boden Rohde is the design manager for Jacket Manufacturing, a class he joined for the second year this fall. Rohde is planning to pursue a career in engineering and design. He explained that before he became a manager of the student-led business at the high school, he took several classes that prepared him, such as 3-D design.

For Perham and Otter Tail County residents, the order underscores the value of hands-on career and technical education that keeps opportunity local. Programs like Jacket Manufacturing give students workplace skills, a modest revenue stream for school programs and visibility for local talent at statewide events. The project also illustrates how small, affordable innovations can translate into community contracts that sustain classroom work.

The Jacket Manufacturing run for the principals’ conference shows what happens when classroom learning meets community need. For readers, that means Perham High students are gaining real-world experience, and local organizations have a ready partner for small-batch manufacturing needs, a practical example of school-to-work pathways that can expand career options in the area.