By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Youngstown State University is home to many student organizations, including the local chapter of the American Foundry Society. The AFS is a trade association for foundries and the broader metalcasting industry.
The YSU chapter provides opportunities for students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ely Vuksanovich, AFS chapter president, said the group works with students who are interested in learning about metallurgy and casting by providing hands-on experience.
“We are a professional development organization,” Vuksanovich said. “We take students who are interested in foundry related fields … and we connect them with industry professionals.”
The AFS maintains student chapters across several universities. The organization is larger than just these college groups. Joseph Bartlett, AFS chapter vice president, said the AFS also conducts research on a national level.
“AFS is actually bigger than just college groups. They are actually the standard organization for casting in the United States,” Bartlett said. “They’re a larger organization that does research, problem solving, introduction to new concepts, [etc.].”
The AFS has become interested in getting college students into the foundry industry. This is due to some foundry jobs returning to the United States but not having enough people to fill them. Vuksanovich stated that the AFS helps prepare students for those jobs.
“There’s a lot of jobs that are trying to come back to the U.S., but just because they’re coming back doesn’t mean that they’re going to be filled. The people who can fill those jobs have to come from somewhere,” Vuksanovich said. “The AFS … filled that void. They go to colleges … and they find students who maybe didn’t know that the foundry industry existed.”
The Steel Founders’ Society of America hosts an annual event called Cast in Steel, where AFS student chapters can participate in metalcasting competitions. Victoria Matthews, AFS chapter treasurer at YSU, said the competition combines history and casting, while also exposing more students to the field.
“One of the ways AFS gets people into the casting industry is through this competition called Cast in Steel, where every year we make a weapon from history,” Matthews said. “This past year we made George Washington’s sword.”
The next Cast in Steel competition will be held in 2026. Participants will need to create the axe of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce. The AFS chapter at YSU meets at 6:30 p.m. every Monday in Moser Hall Room 1470.