Savannah River Mission Completion Hosts Local High School Students

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AIKEN, S.C.  — Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), the liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS), partnered with the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce to launch a high school student job shadow pilot program with the Chamber Foundation Education and Workforce Development Council.

The inaugural Job Shadow Initiative afforded several North Augusta High School (NAHS) students an opportunity to shadow SRMC business management and engineering professionals to help them focus on their career paths.

The shadowing students expressed interests in the fields of engineering, business, and information technology and visited SRMC’s Aiken Office for real-world work experience before returning to the classroom. SRMC management provided human resources, supply chain management, contract management, and business management overviews for the students. The group also lived a day in the life of SRMC engineers, gleaning information to guide them on their career paths.

SRMC Chief Administrative Officer Mark Barth provided a synopsis of SRMC’s mission and the liquid waste program.

“The SRMC Business Services team shared their vast experience with the local students, specifically sharing lessons they have learned throughout their careers,” Barth said. “The team also imparted their wisdom on how to prepare for entering the workforce, such as building a resume while in high school and performing volunteer work to help prepare for interacting with different people in the workplace.”

After spending the morning with SRMC engineering hosts, rising junior and aspiring chemical engineer Evan Hargrove said his decision to pursue an engineering path was confirmed.

“I hoped to learn what chemical engineering entailed and what an engineering brain is,” Hargrove said. “After learning how the Savannah River Site liquid waste tanks and processes work, it’s a masterpiece really. There is a lot of structure and architecture, and they have designed it very well. I hope to incorporate this into where I see myself in five to 10 years. I definitely could see myself working at Savannah River Mission Completion.”

North Augusta Chamber of Commerce President Terra Carroll coordinated the initiative through the foundation council and accompanied the job shadows to the SRMC Aiken Office.

“The job shadow experience is ideal for students with diverse interests and career inclinations or simply those who are undecided about which career path to pursue and whether or not they can see themselves in that profession,” Carroll said.

SRMC comprises parent company BWX Technologies, Inc. with partners Amentum and Fluor. Its team brings the capabilities necessary to accelerate cleanup at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site through safe nuclear operations, optimized and integrated mission execution, and strong corporate governance.