New opportunities help the next generation stay in Western Pennsylvania
Students in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, are making the most of skills training to explore new paths and prepare for a re-energized future. Emma McDonald is one of those students. With generational roots in Beaver County, she is excited about her future career in the place she calls home.
Watch! Powering Progress with opportunities
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Title: Powering Progress by Creating Opportunities
Duration: 3:31 minutes
Description:
This video features Emma, a farmer’s daughter and Process Technology student at the Community College of Beaver County, a town in which Shell has built a polymers plant which is bringing jobs, skills, and opportunity to a region where thousands of jobs had been previously lost through the collapse of the steel industry.
EFWorkforce DevelopmentV10020523 Transcript
[Background music plays]
Country style instrumental music.
Emma McDonald
My family’s been on this farm for generations.
[Video footage]
We open on a series of footage showing Emma driving a green tractor on the family farm.
Emma McDonald
I really enjoy the fact that I get to hang out with a bunch of cool animals. And I also think it's kind of cool that I know more than the average bear whenever it comes to just random farming facts or random cow facts.
[Audio]
Birdsong and lowing of cattle.
[Video footage]
Emma speaks to the off-camera interviewer while walking on the farm. We see shots of cows, an old tractor in the field, farm buildings, and a close-up of the “The McDonald Farm” signpost, with the sign moving slowly back and forth in the wind.
Emma McDonald
I’ve decided to not be a farmer, but I still want to be able to work with my mind and work with my hands.
[Text displays]
Emma McDonald
[Video footage]
A series of footage shows Emma stacking up bales of hay in a shed.
Emma McDonald
Working hard has always been in my family. It's in my blood. I feel like without a strong work ethic, you won't really go that far in life.
[Video footage]
Emma continues stacking hay bales in the shed.
[Background music plays]
Sound of Shell adaptation
[Text displays]
When the steel industry collapsed, Beaver County, Pennsylvania lost 20,000 jobs.
The area has found it hard to recover.
[Graphic]
Dark grey text transitions in to display against a white background.
Emma McDonald
Growing up, it didn’t seem like there was a lot of opportunities for jobs or even education here in Beaver County.
[Video footage]
We see tracking and interior shots of Emma driving in a car. Along her route, we see a road sign for Monaca/Shippingport.
Emma McDonald
Life was a bit difficult when the steel mills shut down and different industries kind of went away.
[Video footage]
We see archival footage of the steel mills, including an aerial view, miscellaneous shots of the internal infrastructure as well as signage at the mill entrance.
Emma McDonald
That all changed whenever Shell brought the polymers plant here
[Video footage]
We see point-of-view footage of the vast polymers plant from the moving car.
[Text displays]
In 2022, Shell opened a 384-acre polymers plant in Beaver County.
Shell Polymers Monaca is creating hundreds of local jobs.
[Graphic]
Dark grey text transitions in to display against a white background.
Emma McDonald
Everybody was pretty excited about it, because this is such a small town and that's such a big thing.
[Video footage]
We see a closer view of the plant from the car and Emma driving and speaking to the off-camera interviewer. Drone footage of Shell Polymers Monaca.
Emma McDonald
It’s doing a lot for this community. There’s so many more jobs available, and so many more different jobs are available as well.
[Video footage]
Interior shots of the polymers plant, including a worker donning safety gear, workers walking through an office while others look at data displaying on banks of screens, workers carrying and connecting large hoses, blue fluid being poured from one glass receptacle to another in a lab.
Emma McDonald
As well as the plant, Shell’s also invested in this program here at my community college.
[Video footage]
We see the exterior signage on the wall of the Community College of Beaver County, then low-angle footage of a campus building and a low-angle close-up of signage on the wall denoting the Shell Center for Process Technology Education. Emma opens the door at the building’s entrance and walks in.
Tutor
Morning, Emma. Today, we’ve got a lab to do.
Emma McDonald
Mm-hm.
Tutor
And so what we’re going to do is we’re going to associate the different…
Emma McDonald
I’m currently doing a Process Technology Program.
Tutor
So let’s find that transmitter, and then we’ll trace it back to the junction box.
Emma McDonald
All right.
Tutor
Okay?
[Video footage]
We see Emma receiving instructions from her tutor at the college. Both are wearing full safety gear.
[Background music plays]
Country style instrumental music resumes.
Emma McDonald
I only have a couple more labs left, and then I finally graduate in May.
Tutor
So now we can find out where it’s landed on the terminal block.
Emma McDonald
Four and five, it looks like.
Tutor
Okay, that’s great.
[Video footage]
Various shots show Emma doing work at college, including inspecting a junction box, handling a valve on a pipeline, and discussing with her tutor.
Emma McDonald
I definitely wouldn't be where I am today, at 20 years old, without this program. I'm already set up for my future. I'm really excited to start my job as soon as I graduate.
[Video footage]
More footage of Emma at college, including climbing a metal stairway and standing next to the aforementioned pipeline, listening to her tutor.
[Text displays]
Dozens of graduates have secured well paying jobs in the area.
Including at Shell Polymers Monaca.
[Graphic]
Dark grey text transitions in to display against a white background.
David McDonald
My goodness, when I graduated from high school, there was a steady diet of guys that were being laid off from the steel mills. There was no jobs. And now it seems like this area is booming. That's great that you kids can benefit from these opportunities that we have now and stay local.
[Text displays]
David McDonald
Emma’s Father
[Video footage]
We see drone footage of the McDonald’s farm and then a series of footage showing Emma and her dad chatting next to the parked green tractor.
Emma McDonald
I wanted to stay here my entire life. I really like the idea of being able to contribute to this community.
[Video footage]
A series of footage shows Emma and her mom setting the table in their home.
Emma McDonald
I’m really glad Shell came to Beaver County. Their investment really helped me get a lot of those opportunities that I never thought that I would have.
[Video footage]
Emma speaks to the off-camera interviewer while walking on the farm, and we see a final drone shot of the farm.
[Video footage and animated sequence]
We end on a yellow background sequence where we see various people, including Emma, successively posing against the yellow background, and smiling into the camera. An animated Pecten shape displays at frame-center over the flashing images, neon light appearing to move around the outline in a chasing effect.
[Audio]
Shell brand mnemonic played on keys.
[Text displays]
#PoweringProgress
[Animated sequence]
Successively larger Pecten shapes pulsate out from the original shape, which ultimately expands to fill the frame and dissolves out. The small classic red and yellow Pecten transitions in to display at frame-center against a white background. Text displays below this.
Working hard has always been in my family. It's in my blood.
Twenty-year-old Emma McDonald’s Beaver County roots extend several generations. Growing up on her family farm, she prides herself on a strong work ethic and knowing more random farming facts than the average person.
When the steel industry collapsed, Beaver County lost 20,000 jobs. The area found it hard to recover. Emma knew she wanted to stay in Western Pennsylvania and contribute to the future of her community, but career options were limited.
"Growing up, it didn’t seem like there were a lot of opportunities for jobs or even education here in Beaver County,” McDonald says. “Life was a bit difficult whenever the steel mills shut down and different industries kind of went away."
In communities impacted by the decline in domestic manufacturing, pride, strong will, and determination to rebuild are creating opportunities for a re-invigorated workforce to find new careers in ultra-modern manufacturing, technology, and more.
When opportunity meets preparation
Harnessing their generational work ethic, the McDonald family chose to stay and fight for a brighter future. When Shell opened a 384-acre plastics plant just outside Monaca, Pennsylvania – smack-dab in the middle of Beaver County – the McDonalds, like so many others in the community, saw an opportunity for their hard work and determination to pay off.
Nearly a decade in the making, the plant signaled new investment in a community primed for a re-energized future. The plant, Shell Polymers Monaca, will produce an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of polyethylene pellets used by Shell’s customers to create products that we see and use every day – including common household goods, consumer and food packaging, and industrial and utility products.
Developing the workforce
Shell Polymers Monaca employs roughly 600 associates, and Emma hopes to eventually be one of them. After Shell gave a presentation at her high school, she decided to attend CCBC, where she now studies at the Shell Center.
A straight-A student, Emma is learning crucial skills for becoming a process technician or operator. She hopes to secure a well-paid, skilled career at the Monaca plant when she graduates.
Experience the best of Fuel Rewards®
Start saving today by signing up on the Fuel Rewards® website.
