AB&I team members meet students at EnCompass Academy
June 8, 2017
As part of their community outreach, AB&I partnered with EnCompass Academy that is located approximately 1,100 feet from the AB&I facility. On June 7, a group of AB&I team members joined the 327 students enrolled at EnCompass (T-K through 5th grade) and 35 staff members for the year-end assembly.
Mike Olvera and Kerry Griffin talked to the students and staff about how they use their academic knowledge, team work and experience to come up with innovative solutions to problems they encounter at the foundry. Kerry has been with AB&I for five years and has had perfect attendance and Mike discussed the importance of consistently showing up for school or work every day. They also discussed how different teams including engineers, operations, safety and environmental personnel come together to work out problems and if that doesn’t work, they try again. This is a concept that the Making and Design team was trying to get across to the students. If something doesn’t work while developing a robot, system or solving a problem, try again.
Principal Nguyen made a point of asking Mike and Kerry about recycling since this is something that the school supports and tries to incorporate into their lesson plans. Michael Lowe along with Amalia Beltran and Christopher Fagundes presented a $2,000 check to Principle Nguyen to assist with the cost of sending the 5th grade class to science camp. AB&I’s team members donated $1,000 and AB&I matched that amount. The 5th grade Science teacher and the incumbent 5th grade class were extremely excited by the generosity of our team members and company.
After the assembly, the AB&I team presented everyone with a 4” frying pan that was designed specifically for the school. They also have plans to make a plaque for a beloved colleague at the Academy that passed away a couple of months ago. The school planted a tree in his honor and the plaque will be affixed to the wall by the tree. The idea for the frying pan was a collective effort by AB&I team members and includes the school logo on the inside and the AB&I logo on the outside. During the 2017-2018 school year, the 5th grade class from EnCompass and Acorn Woodland will be visiting AB&I to learn more about their processes, especially the recycling process.
It was a great event and EnCompass and AB&I are excited to see how they can continue to work together to prepare the students for a prosperous future.
