from
Marathon Ashland Petroleum MainStream magazine article
Young employees
like Casey Hulway are the future of Responsible Care…
Building More Than A School
Responsible Care continues
to blossom in projects across the company, and MAP continues to
recruit talented, young employees who believe in giving back the
community…both locally and around the world. M&TE Engineer Casey Hulway, for example, says that her goals
in life were “to build things as a civil engineer, somehow
find a way to help people, and utilize my Spanish abilities.”
Well, when it comes to
building things, Casey is well on her way. A 2002 graduate
of Michigan Tech, Casey started with MAP as a co-op student
and then joined the company full time after graduation. Assigned
to M&TE Engineering in Indianapolis, Casey is currently directing
the construction of several Speedway gas stations.
“I have one under
construction right now, one more later in June, one in July, and
another in August,” she explains. “In all, I’ll
build four and remodel two this year, and I’m also mentoring
a co-op student and a new employee. It’s going to be a busy
year.”
As for the rest of her
goals, Casey has already put both her Spanish and engineering skills
to work in a small village in Bolivia. Fluent in Spanish after many
classes and studying abroad in Spain for a semester, Casey first
found her way to Barrio Los Pinos, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, through
one of her Michigan Tech engineering instructors, Linda Phillips.
It was during a trip
to Bolivia that Phillips hit upon the idea of combining the needs
of her students in Michigan with the needs of a third world community.
The village was in desperate need of a new school, and her students
could benefit from the experience involved in simple construction.
The first group made its way to Bolivia in January 2001. Students
found themselves pouring concrete, erecting trusses and pounding
nails by day, and working with the local architect and doing engineering
work at night – and from all accounts, enjoying every minute
of it.
Casey was one of those
first students. There she found the experience she was looking for,
and much more. It’s obvious that a large part of Casey’s
heart is still tucked away in that small village in Bolivia. “I
was so excited to go and do some good for people,” she says.
“People don’t realize the importance of building a school
for children who don’t have anyplace else to go. To us, we’re
building a school, but truly, it’s much more than that, it’s
building a whole life for them.”
Casey has now made the
trip to Bolivia twice. “The first trip was part of my Senior
Design project, for two weeks,” she explains. “Then
I returned the following year after graduation as a teaching assistant
and translator and was there for four weeks. I also convinced my
parents and sister to go with me. My father, who is also an engineer,
was the hardest to convince of the importance of such a trip, but
that all changed when he got there, and my little sister didn’t
want to leave. We all keep in touch with people we met there.”
It’s worth noting
that it was the money Casey earned from her co-op time with Marathon
that she used to finance the trip. Students who participate in the
program pay for their travel expenses and room and board; part of
the $2,500 cost also finances the costs of materials for construction.
“I worked two jobs for awhile to afford it,” she admits.
“But I knew it was going to be a valuable experience for me,
no matter what.”
Casey says that one of
the real “eye-openers” for her was realizing how simplistic
the building techniques are in Bolivia, and also how resourceful
the local people are.
“It’s so
simple that it throws you off at first, because we’re so used
to the tools and techniques we have here,” she says. “For
example, they didn’t have a level, so they partially filled
a clear hose with water and lined up the ends. To compact the floor
of the gathering hall and church, we used 2 - 2x4s attached the
ends of a 2x6 and pounded the ground instead of using a roller.”
Casey adds that nothing
is wasted. “They reuse everything,” she says. “One
day lumber will be used as a ladder, and then be made into a bucket
for concrete. Then they’ll pull out the nails, straighten
them and the boards will become scaffolding the next day. If they
take off roofing tiles to build another floor, they’ll store
them in a safe place and put them back on the new roof. It gives
you a real lesson in how much is wasted back here.”
In 1998, the school at
Barrio Los Pinos consisted of one room and seven kindergartners,
which also tended to flood in heavy rain. Today, a two story building
serves 182 students through Grade 7, complete with plans for managing
flooding and run-off, and a septic system. More is added with each
successive trip.
For all the hard work
and primitive living conditions, Casey says the trips were refreshing
for her. “I came back feeling like I had really made a difference
in the world,” she admits. “I don’t have the vacation
time yet to do it, but I’d love to get that feeling back and
renew it every year.”
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