PlastiVan™ Demand Outpaces Growth, as Braskem Commits Financial Support
SEKISUI SPI sponsors student events in Pa., and Braskem steps up as lead donor in the SPE Foundation’s educational excellence campaign
By Eve Vitale, SPE Foundation Director
I was privileged to participate recently in a full week of activities with students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pa. We arrived with the PlastiVan™ on Feb. 13 and — with the support of Sekisui SPI and the Thermoforming and Automotive divisions of SPE — conducted a jam-packed program on campus and in the surrounding community. On Feb. 14, 90 high school chemistry students toured the plastics labs and actively participated with the PlastiVan and its various hands-on materials experiments. The next day, we engaged with 150 high school students at Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, Pa., just down the road from Sekisui’s headquarters, and we hosted six sessions with the PlastiVan.
On Feb. 16, some 1,500 fifth-graders participated in a Science Festival on the Penn College campus, with an estimated 300-400 additional students and parents attending in the evening. The PlastiVan had a large booth at the fair. The following day, we took the PlastiVan to another school in Bloomsburg, and held five sessions with the PlastiVan and 89 high school students. Finally, on Feb. 18, we had 20 Girl Scouts join us to work on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engi-neering & Math) project, in a 1½-hour session with the PlastiVan.
Sekisui SPI — a global thermoplastics supplier and sheet producer — not only sponsored the event but attended several sessions and told students about their company and about career opportunities in the industry. This brief video captures some of the excitement that transpired that week: https://bit.ly/PennCollegePlastiVan.