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My First Time at the BLAST Institute
My name is Andrea Davis and as many of you know, I am the Administrative Assistant with IMAA. During the week of June 20th – June 24th, I had the privilege of attending my first ever BLAST Institute (which stands for Bringing Life to Aggregates: a Summer Teachers’ Institute) with 21 teachers from all over Indiana. Being the Administrative Assistant, my role is more behind the scenes and there isn’t always a reason to go into the field with our member companies. During the week of BLAST, I was able to see several of our amazing member companies in action through field trips to different member locations and had the pleasure to spend time with the industry volunteers helping to make the BLAST Institute such a success. I apologize in advance that I am not going to be able to do justice to all the activities and field trips that were orchestrated by our amazing team. PIE Committee Chair Dan O’Connor, WLMA Committee Chair Kim Grose, former PIE Committee Chair Liza Cobb, and all of the many volunteers were instrumental to the success of the week. With that being said, I do want to focus on some of the highlights of the week.
I was entranced with the knowledge that Polly Sturgeon from the Indiana Geological and Water Survey shared with us. Not only did Polly present several times throughout the week on geology, geologic history, and the science of rocks and minerals, she also took us on a walking tour of the Indiana University Campus and provided information on the campus’ rich history with limestone.
As a group we were treated to several field trips throughout the week. The trip to Falls of the Ohio state park was a neat experience where we enjoyed the newly renovated museum and explored the fossil bed along the banks of the Ohio river. During the field trips and classroom presentations, we truly got a well-rounded view of the industry — a presentation on how rocks are blasted from Austin Powder, demonstrations on how asphalt works together with aggregates during the tour of the Milestone asphalt plant, explanations of industry careers during the tour of West Side Tractor Sales in Bloomington, dredging and sand and gravel production at Rogers Group Morgan County Sand and Gravel, a tour of the quarry and underground mine at Rogers Group Bloomington, and a presentation on reclamation and how the industry gives back to the communities once a quarry is closed from IMI Concrete. All of these things combined really gave a birds eye view of how the aggregate industry works from start to finish.
A crowd favorite was the tour of the Rogers Group Bloomington location. The crew at Bloomington Quarry prepared a delicious BBQ for us while we were taking tours in groups of four of the quarry and underground mine. It was my first time, as well as being the first time for the teachers, being in an underground mine. The experience was very humbling to see the precision in which blasts are done and the way that aggregates are mined in such large pillared rooms. At the end of the day under the guidance of Spencer DePoy and Tanner Powell, we were able to operate a mini excavator which is an experience not soon to be forgotten.
At the beginning of the week teachers were asked to answer with three words what they thought of when they heard the word “mining”. Responses varied with several stating drilling, mineral, dirty, and blasting. At the end of the week teachers were asked the same question and their responses changed to, career, safety, family, and reclamation. The BLAST Institute was very successful in providing great professional development for the teachers with applicable lessons that they can take back and implement directly into their classrooms. IMAA and its volunteers were very successful in creating 21 industry ambassadors throughout the week through networking and education of what the aggregate industry actual is.
The BLAST Institute is a week-long, hands-on workshop specially created for K-12 science educators in Indiana to immerse them in the aggregates industry and expose them to activities that demonstrate the importance of aggregates in everyday life. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers, presenters, sponsors, and field trip hosts for bringing back the BLAST Institute better than ever after a 4-year hiatus! BLAST will be back again in 2024—until then, check out more BLAST Institute photos.
