William R. Toler
ROCKINGHAM — Fourth-grade students in Richmond County will get a rock-ing experience in their education thanks to a partnership with a local industry.
Vulcan Materials is funding a program for fourth-graders to visit Discovery Place Kids-Rockingham for a rocks class before taking a field trip for a tour of the quarry just south of the city, according to museum Director Angela Watkins.
Watkins said the class will match the geology curriculum being taught in the schools, with activities including a scratch test to evaluate the hardness of minerals and learning how erosion affects the land.
Several teachers and representatives of Vulcan Materials gathered at DPK early Wednesday for the official announcement.
“Any time we’ve ever allowed our students to have the classroom experience come to life through field trip and through some hands-on learning, we are always grateful for that,” said Dr. Kate Smith, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
“This will also be a great innovation to our STEM program,” Smith continued. “Richmond County Schools has invested a lot … into our STEM experiences for students.
With students seeing how what they learn in the classroom is used in the real world with future opportunities, Smith said it “ignites interest…sparks curiosity and makes them want to learn more about whatever it is that they’re learning about.”
According to the corporate website, Vulcan is the “nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates — primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel — and a major producer of aggregates-based construction materials, including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete.”
Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Vulcan has locations in more than 20 states — mostly in the southern half of the country from coast to coast — including 28 sites in North Carolina.
The Rockingham quarry has been in operation since the 1960s.
“When I was a first-grade teacher, I took my kids almost every year,” Watkins said, joking about driving the bus into the quarry. “You can’t fully comprehend it and understand it until you visit the place and it’s just wonderful.”
Jeanine Hanson, plant office administrator, said there was one student who had taken a tour in his youth who now works for Vulcan.
While on site, students have the opportunity to look over into the pit and see how the mine operates.
“We always tell them they can be in this job one day,” said Hanson.
Hanson acknowledges that not everyone is cut out for college and for those who enjoy a hands-on job, “and that would be a perfect fit for Vuclan.”
Watkins, a former educator, said she has a “great passion” for finding “cradle to career” opportunities available in Richmond County for students.
“We might have a future big truck driver … somebody that will be a great employee for Vulcan,” Watkins said.
The museum has an interactive Vulcan-themed exhibit that Watkins said is a favorite among visitors. The mining area also includes hard hats and safety vests, as well as a list of some of the jobs available with the company.
Some of those jobs, according to Hanson, include drilling, loading and hauling.
“It’s fascinating to watch the kids’ faces as they learn something simple as the “M” on the outside of M&Ms is actually a mineral and it comes out of the ground,” Hanson said.
That fact caught the attention of Alyssa Mulliger, senior communications director for Discovery Place.
Hanson added that Vulcan has started giving out bags to visiting students that include a book telling them about the equipment, squishy rocks and a plastic bag that they can put in the ground to see how long it takes to deteriorate.
“Vulcan is all about community and we were so thankful when they reached out to us to be a part of this,” said Hanson. “It’s really cool to see that the kids get an experience that they never would have gotten before.”
