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Dialogue with Dow
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Drusenheim students visiting a Dow production plant.
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| Teachers at the Dow Rhine Center on Schools’ Day. |
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The Rhine Center maintains close contact with its surrounding communities and the neighbors who live near the site. The Rhine Center is committed to the Responsible Care¨ program and maintains an intensive dialogue with the public — either by welcoming all kinds of visitors or by being present as part of a Dow team at fairs, exhibitions, in schools and at other events. In future, we shall be reporting on these events under the heading "Dialogue with Dow".
Dow Goes to School...
Are young students really able to make a decision about their future careers at the end of the 8th or 9th grade (13-15 years)? School staff are generally in agreement that this is not the case and therefore increase the activities they offer in this respect such as employment forums, career fairs, etc. After all, nothing is worth more than direct contact with the professionals.
The local school in Drusenheim, Alsace, wanted to come up with a new formula. With this in mind, its teaching staff wanted to create learning itineraries for the 9th grade students at their school. With individual student groups and a system for passing on information and experiences, exchanges were held with professionals from the industry, every Friday afternoon until the end of the school year. The professionals in question were employees of Dow. After visiting the site, it was at their school that the students met up with professionals who did not hesitate to donate a little of their time to share their knowledge of areas such as accounting, communication, new product development, research, engineering, laboratory analysis, fire protection, etc. An exercise that was not easy for the Dow personnel communicating with an audience of 14 year-olds, but a worthwhile dialogue, due to the importance of the message to be delivered to the young generation.
School Comes to Dow
End of April 2004, around 20 teachers from neighboring schools were invited to visit Dow in Rheinmünster on Schools’ Day. The Baden-Württemberg Chemical Industry Association organized this event in order to facilitate teachers the contact to the local chemical industry and their access to information about production, research and job opportunities within the industry. Dow was taking part in this project for the first time.
Following an introduction to the global world of Dow as well as to the Dow Rhine Center, the guests were hosted by the Training Center, whose manager presented a clear profile for those applying for training at the site. Requirements include the need for an applicant to have obtained information about Dow, to be interested in natural sciences as well as to have a solid general knowledge base. An applicant would derive numerous benefits from training with Dow by means of practical periods in natural science divisions, hobbies and voluntary involvement. In his address to the school representatives, the training manager challenged them to concentrate on key qualifications, such as learning and social skills, as well as to develop general knowledge. He also emphasized the point that young people should be encouraged to be more independent; this could be achieved by increased use of project activities within the school curriculum.
At the end of the day, the unanimous verdict of the visitors was that this kind of event really deserved to be repeated!
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