TMRA Teachers Workshops: Industrial Minerals Workshop Summary

TMRA Teachers Workshops
Industrial Minerals Workshop Summary

Francye Hutchins has been the Education Director for 25-plus years and is responsible for TMRA’s great teacher education program. Francye is retiring at the end of this year and Cheryl Allison is now the Director of Education for TMRA and was responsible for the education program this year. Cheryl’s educational background and energetic approach to education will continue and enhance a very successful program that will be valuable to TMRA and TACA for many years to come.

The TMRA education program was faced with many challenges due to COVID during this summer. The teacher workshop schedule was very dynamic regarding covid restrictions and handled on a case by case basis. Status of each workshop was determined through continuous communication between the TMRA Education Director, Instructional staff, and the hosting mine sites with the primary goal of protecting the health and safety of mine site personnel, attendees, and TMRA instructional staff. COVID health concerns resulted in the cancellation of the four coal workshops as well as the uranium workshop.

However, with support from Texas Aggregate and Concrete Association (TACA), the industrial minerals workshop was held in Round Rock.

A summary of the workshop is provided below:

When: June 15-19, 2020
Where: Round Rock, TX

Attendees:
25 Teachers from 15 School Districts:
Celeste, Crockett, Cypress-Fairbanks, Dallas, Fort Bend, Fort Worth, Leander, Mt. Enterprise, Mt. Pleasant, Palestine, Nacogdoches, Rivercrest, Round Rock, Wall, and Las Vegas, Nevada. 8-elementary, 10-Middle/JR High, and 7 High School

Educational Credit for Teachers:
45 hours of professional development, 40 hours of TEEAC credit, 12 hours of Gifted Talented credit

Industry Experts/Speakers:
1)  Ben Blankenship - Ash Grove Cement
2)  Josh Leftwich - TACA
3)  Logan Owens - TEX MIX
4)  Bill Heath - Easy Mix
5)  Jerry McCalip - Arcosa
6)  Nicholas Reittinger - Vibra-Tech
7)  Capitol Aggregates and Capitol Cement

Tours/Tour Guides:
• Tex Mix 2 facilities at Hutto and Leander - Logan Owens was the host
•  Bill Heath brought volumetric truck to Tex Mix facility
•  Capitol Aggregates and Capitol Cement took teachers to Solms Quarry, cement plant, and lab for tours. Tour hosts were Mike Wallace, Kristel Perry, Lee Scheel, Rusty Winters, and Scott Wolston

Total Cost of Workshop: $19,949

TACA Donation: $16,000
•  10 teacher sponsorships at $1,500 each - $15,000
•  2 Meal sponsorships at $500 each - $1000

Remaining Cost Covered by TMRA - $3,949