On Thursday, April 20, students from YouthBuild Worcester toured Saint-Gobain Abrasives and the Northboro Research & Development Center to learn more about manufacturing and innovation at the Saint-Gobain family of companies. Through its partnership with Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest building materials companies, YouthBuild Worcester, operated by Training Resources of America, provides former out-of-school young adults with the opportunity to earn their high school equivalency credentials while gaining in-demand green building skills and education. Through this partnership, students are also provided with hands-on opportunities to learn about careers in the manufacturing and building materials industries through immersive initiatives like these facility tours.

Students first toured Saint-Gobain Abrasives where they were provided with a safety orientation and learned about the building material science behind bonded abrasives and superabrasives. Students then traveled to the Northboro Research & Development Center to learn about innovation at Saint-Gobain.

Thank you, Saint-Gobain! The tour was informative, fun, and eye-opening! Student comments follow:

"(The tour) opened my eyes to all of the machine operating that goes into making wheels. They literally make everything there and that's cool!" ~ Christian Fernandez

"I really liked the research and development branch in Northboro. What Aldo did with the insulation was so cool! It is amazing how much work goes into the simplest things. Now I know why everything is so expensive!" ~ Keith Lowell

"Everything was mind-blowing. I could see myself working in the research department because that's right up my alley." ~ Kabilraj Kantharaj