CHS Graduates Give Back

That connection has been shown by the many things that their company, DiStar Industries, has done to help people interested in a manufacturing career get their start. DiStar also played a key role in providing some very special signs and plaques for the new CHS when it was built in 2017.

From providing jobs to recent graduates to allowing current Discoverer students to job shadow to just providing a simple tour of their facilities, while also helping make the new CHS shine brighter than it would have, the Ditters have done their part to give something back to future generations.

“It’s fun to do, just getting some of the younger students involved (in manufacturing),” said Darin, a 1994 CHS grad. “One of (our) job shadows from this past year, we actually hired him as an employee and we’re helping him go to school up at Platte College (Central Community College-Columbus).”

Having the signs built at the new high school is a point of pride for Cory, the oldest of the two brothers and a 1989 CHS grad, who has children who will eventually get a chance to see the signs.

Although the CHS projects would have been more than enough in some cases, it isn’t enough for the Ditters, who are continuing their outreach to CHS with their work to give students opportunities to explore their potential future in manufacturing.

“It’s important because that’s where the next generation of workers will come from,” Darin said. “We’ve got to get them out here and get them experience and excited for something like this.”

There’s also something bigger at play, something that goes beyond just working with DiStar: it’s showing off the opportunities that are present in Columbus, whether it’s at DiStar or B-D or Behlen Mfg.

“You don’t have to go far away; there’s just so much opportunity here in Columbus,” Cory said. “We actually had people that helped us along the way in certain aspects of it and those are the types of things that we need to repay and help other people as long as they come up through the community as well.”