Carbon County middle school students need your votes.

Voting for the "What's So Cool About Manufacturing?" Lehigh Valley video contest opened Thursday on the Dream It. Do It. Pennsylvania website, and four area schools are participating in the second annual event. The public can cast their votes until 11:59 p.m. Saturday.The contest, sponsored by the Manufacturers Resource Center of the Lehigh Valley and various other industry leaders, includes 22 middle schools from the Lehigh Valley, Northampton and Carbon County who took teams of students to local manufacturers to learn about the companies' processes. It also gave students the opportunity to connect directly with local manufacturers, document their experiences and present them in an educational and "cool" way through film media. The contest was created to generate excitement that draws students toward manufacturing career paths.Kathy Henderson, director of economic development in Carbon County, said students from Palmerton, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Panther Valley participated. Teams then visited Ametek and Kovatch Mobile Enterprises, both in Nesquehoning; Architectural Polymers in the Little Gap section of Palmerton; and TPEI in Lehighton, where they researched and filmed local manufacturers, interviewed employees, and edited their work in order to present their final 2-minute video for judging.She said that the students now need the public's help by voting for their videos."Vote early, vote often," Henderson said.The video with the most votes will receive the "Viewer's Choice Award."The videos will also be reviewed by a panel of judges for awards in categories such as Outstanding Educational Value and Outstanding Creativity.In its first year, the contest received over 123,000 votes during the three-day voting period.Henderson said that the winners of the contest will be announced at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.For more information about the contest and to cast votes, visit dreamitdoitpa.com and click on "Vote Here" for the 2015 Lehigh Valley Contest.