Marathon Facilities Participate in Local Initiatives to Bridge Gap Between Business and Education

Experts on a variety of subjects, including engineering, environmental management and safety, Marathon (formerly Marathon Ashland Petroleum - MAP) employees frequently visit the local schools in their communities. During these visits, they teach students about the petroleum industry and the important functions their company facilities provide in the community. Students are often invited to tour the facility to see first hand what goes on at Marathon.

In 2001, MAP’s Marine Transportation Department joined the Seaman's Church Institute in the "Adopt a Towboat Program". The program is a year-long curriculum provided to Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia schools located along the Ohio River. It is intended to help communities learn more about the billion dollar business of commercial navigation. Through the program, students 'adopt' a towboat and it's crew, corresponding with them throughout the school year while studying a variety of topics such as the vocabulary of the maritime industry, knot tying and map skills. Off-duty captains and crew members stop by the classrooms to meet the students and to talk about life on the river.

The Marine Transportation Department also has become a partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a program called "Biologist on Board." The program helps create opportunities for biologists and the navigation industry to communicate with each other about mutual interests and connections to the river; and to share perspectives and concerns regarding the river and its resources. Understanding each other's viewpoints, responsibilities, limitations, and concerns, results in the development of solutions that balance navigation-industry concerns with a healthy, sustainable river ecosystem.

Marathon's Findlay, Ohio office participates in The Workforce Development Network, a Findlay Chamber of Commerce initiative that provides a means to communicate workforce needs, expectations and opportunities to business and community leaders. The network concentrates on economic development concepts such as retention of qualified workers, recruitment of workers to the area and the education of local students to business needs. The program is funded through local grants, corporate grants and federal programs.

In conjunction with Marathon’s Responsible Care® community relations efforts, Texas Refining Division coordinated a summer work partnership with a local school district. This initiative, first implemented at Texas Refining Division in 2002, is a unique approach to foster relationships with industry and the local school districts. A goal of the partnership is to provide work experiences and industry exposure needed to relate the refinery environment back to the classroom. This experience will help him teach students about refinery operations, environmental standards that are required in a refinery, and job opportunities available in a refinery.