Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONIssue 22 • Winter 2017

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

12334 Geddes RoadHemlock, Michigan 48626

Presorted Standard

U.S. PostagePAID

Midland, MIPermit No. 181

Career-Starting ProgramsDear Neighbors:

I’m sure you are aware that Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC employs many citizens who live throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region. But did you know that we also provide employment to high school and college students through our co-op and intern-ship programs?

The co-op program is a way to provide high school students within our community the

opportunity to get a job and a real-world business education. Co-op students are typically selected from local high schools and universities such as Delta College, Saginaw Valley and Northwood University.

Co-ops work throughout the site in various functions such as Administration, Human Resources, Accounting, Quality, Manufacturing and Engineering, and Technical Support. In addition to employment, co-op positions provide an

opportunity for students to experience working life, a chance to learn how business is conducted, and most importantly an ability to interact with people performing roles within careers they are either highly interested in or currently pursuing. Go to HSCPoly.com to check for openings and apply.

The internship program is designed to provide college students with relevant work experience within their field of study during the summer. Interns are given projects that require students to apply their knowledge, network with our employees, manage timelines, interface with vendors and learn our systems. At the end of the summer, interns present their projects to site management and are evaluated for opportunities to return the following summer or if entering their senior year, for potential future employment.

Interns are primarily selected through our college recruit-ment process. The process begins with attending college campus career fairs in the fall. This past fall, we attended career fairs at Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Ohio State, Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State. From this effort, seven engineering interns will join us during the

Terence Robinson, Team Leader

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Approximately 7,000 kids across the region visited the 2017 Dow Great Lakes Bay STEM Festival on October 6-7 at Delta College, an event that supports Michigan Technological University’s “Mind Trekkers” engineering roadshow to stimu-late Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) interest among youth.

Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC was one of 30 area organizations to participate at the event, which included numerous booths and hundreds of science demonstrations.

The “Polysilicon” Booth

The Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC booth was very busy, staffed by six volunteers from the mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering fields, plus a marketing intern. Together, they demonstrated a variety of STEM-related

activities to thou-sands of students, teachers and parents over the two-day event.

Activities at the booth included a simple description of how polysili-con is produced and why STEM is important to operations. The team also provid-ed examples of

where polysilicon is used, such as producing semiconductors for computers and phones, and to make solar cells. Students were offered free souvenirs too, including foam silicon rocks and hammers, pens and sunglasses.

According to Andy Korinda, senior process engineer, kids were interested in more than just souvenirs, though. “Children

and parents were keen to learn about those shiny chunks found along the area’s railroad tracks, which are metallurgical-grade silicon rocks from the Dow smelters,” he said. “We kid around that we turn rock (mineral quartz) into rock and the purest element on earth – polysilicon, which really grabbed their attention.”

Korinda said you could see the wonderment in the kids’ eyes as they saw how a gas could turn into a giant piece of metal inside an enlarged lightbulb. “But nothing got quite as many gasps as explaining that Hemlock Semiconductor’s product purity is like finding the equivalent of 12 hairs on the popula-tion of the entire world. We had wonderful time interacting with up to 30 kids and parents at a time, and can’t wait to do this again next year.”

Event Success

Leadership and engagement across the region resulted in a very positive experience for the entire region, one that will

STEM Festival Sparks HUGE Interest

United in United Way Thanks to employee contributions and a variety of fundraising activities, Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC has raised over $100,000 for United Way, which supports a variety of important needs in the region.

The biggest fundraisers aside from employee donations included a dunk tank event at the employee picnic where employees gamely took the plunge in the name of United Way, including Mark Bassett, Brent Dunn, Mike Grillo, Mike Tendler, Kirk

Royster, Mark Loboda, Phil Rausch, John Bucci, Harry Mika and Robert Culp. Other activities included sales of ice cream, baked goods, a pumpkin decorating contest, a golf contest, a picnic, and an internal silent auction with donations from local businesses.

According to Becki Anderson, site employee campaign ambas-sador, this is the second year that Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC has run a separate campaign from

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Dow Corning, and with great success.

“We’re very pleased with the campaign, which could not have been achieved without the dedication and commitment of our employees to this very important cause,” Anderson said. “United Way works for the local community and makes it possible for a large number of individuals to participate. I want to extend

a big thank you to our diverse group of people at Hemlock Semiconductor Operations who worked extremely hard at raising funds, and to local businesses for donating to the silent auction.”

Andy Ault, EHS&S Manager, agrees. “United Way provides critical resources for our community and I’m glad that our company has such a creative approach to increasing employee participation and contributions.”

For nearly a decade, Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC has been donating food from its cafete-ria to Hidden Harvest, a food rescue and redistribution charity, to help local shelters feed people in need.

The impact is significant. In 2016, for example, Hidden Harvest collected 826 pounds of surplus food from Hemlock Semiconductor, which equates to around

688 meals. Most of this food is distributed to shelters in Saginaw County such as Restoration Community Outreach, a homeless shelter for men; Underground Railroad, a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence; and Odyssey House, another shelter for women and children.

“Through this partnership, Hemlock Semiconductor reduces waste, contributes food toward those in need and helps Hidden Harvest reach our goal of putting good food to good use,” said Samantha McKenzie, Hidden Harvest president and chief executive officer. “We are so thankful for the food donations and the overall support we receive from organizations across the community.”

How It Works

At Hemlock Semiconductor, Hidden Harvest arrives approximately once a week in a refrigerated truck to collect food donations – usually in the form of prepared kitchen entrees. To ensure safe food handling, this only includes food that has not left the control of the kitchen. Kitchen staff immediately packs the surplus in aluminum

pans and lids, then freezes and refrigerates for pickup. Hidden Harvest only donates foods to agencies, such as shelters and soup kitchens that have staff and facilities inspected by the health department.

All food donated to Hidden Harvest is distributed free of charge, so the contributions from local food donors help shelters save money on their food budgets, and help society reduce waste.

How To Get Involved

Hidden Harvest has been rescuing food for over 24 years, to the sum of about 32.7 million pounds! The food comes from farmers, restaurants, bakeries, schools, corporate cafeterias, gardeners, wholesalers, hospital kitchens, food banks, grocery stores and any place else that has quality surplus food that is still safe to use.

If you work at, or know of, a company with excess food, please contact Jeremiah Janze, Hidden Harvest food donor coordinator at 989-753-4749 or jjanze@hiddenharvestshares.org.

Hidden Harvest also works with businesses and organizations to host non-perishable food drives, which are great for local food pantries and another way to get involved.

Food for the TableHelping Hidden Harvest

Fun Fact Did you know? Since 1999, employees at Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC have contributed over $1.7 million to United Way of the Great Lakes Bay Region. This is in addition to their volunteerism in a variety of community activities.

New Hire Group Gives BackIn 2009, the New Hire Group (NHG) was created at Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC to help new employees – those who have been with the company five years or less – feel welcomed and get involved. Today, about 60 members meet to learn about activities in the region, network with peers and promote the spirit of volunteerism in the community.

Most members participate in at least one of many scheduled volunteer events per year. These range from volunteering at soup kitchens and Habitat for Humanity to participating in the annual Roethke Christmas Train event.

In May, for example, NHG volunteers helped prep food and serve soup at a local shelter. For the Roethke Christmas Train event in Thomas Township, they helped set up decorations for a display sponsored by Hemlock Semiconductor, and were especially thankful for a budget increase that allowed the team to add more lighting and updates.

“I enjoy volunteering with the New Hire Group because it’s a rewarding way to give back to my community while devel-

oping relationships with my peers,” said Elizabeth Stelzer, manufacturing

engineer. “Seeing the joy from our neighbors just by spending a few hours at an event leaves us feeling inspired and impact-ful, and forms a bond that you can’t quite get by chatting in the cafeteria.”

According to Zach Dahl, process engineer, “I enjoy volunteering because it is an opportunity to improve the communities we live and work in. It is remarkable what can be accomplished when a group of friends, colleagues or strangers come together to help others. “

in a controlled situation. This was a welcome change that complements our yearly training and is something we can appreciate both here at work and elsewhere.”

According to Casey Cichowski, Thomas Township firefighter, “This training provided us a unique opportunity to observe a real fire in a controlled environment, and practice specific extinguishing techniques. This training also allowed us to practice search-and-rescue scenarios while ‘feeling the heat’ of a real fire. Myself and my fellow firefighters thoroughly enjoyed this training and appreciate the opportunity to be involved. Hemlock Semiconductor treated us with the utmost respect and provided us a very valuable training opportunity. It’s not every day we are able to observe and train inside a real fire and we are extremely grateful for the hospitality.”

Since Hemlock Semiconductor Operations initiated a “live fire train-ing container”” program last spring to teach emergency first responders at the site and local fire departments how to handle emergencies, fire preparedness is even higher than ever before.

More than 160 chemical operators and 18 Loss Prevention Officers have been trained to NFPA 600 Fire Brigade standards in 19 internal training ses-sions, with an additional three training sessions attended by 42 members of the Thomas Township and Richland Township Fire Departments.

The training has also expanded to include mannequins to simulate situations that can occur in occupied structures.

“The fire container allowed us to experience training and the hazards of fire in a unique perspective that few people get to see,” said Jason Pung, chemical operator. “It reinforced how important it is to stay calm in a situation involving fire, heat and smoke and showed just how quick things can change

Fire Training Continues To Deliver

IDS HELPING COMMUNITIESK2018 Community Calendar Art ContestWinners Announced!

Safety Updates Saginaw County 911If you haven’t already signed up, please take a minute to register for the Saginaw County 911 Emergency Notification system via http://www.hscpoly.com/ content/hsc_com/community-awareness.aspx?wt.dn=hscpoly.com/community-connectionMI.

This will enable you to receive notifications from Saginaw County 911 for situations in the county and incidents occurring at the Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC

site. Neighbors can also dial 989-642-2800 to check on the site status.

Alarm SystemPlease note that Site Muster alarms and

Tornado alerts at the Hemlock Semiconductor Operations site are no longer being tested

monthly, but will continue to be tested biannually on the first Wednesday of January and July at Noon. Site Building Evacu-ation Alarms will also continue to be tested monthly.

In early November, 14 winners and 46 finalists of the 2018 Community Calendar Art Contest were recognized for colorful artwork that supports the theme, “Kids Helping Communities.” Students from middle schools

across Saginaw and Midland were asked to submit draw-ings that show how kids can volunteer to make a difference.

The event was hosted by Rob Kain, quality assurance manager for Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC, Terry Robinson,

team leader at Hemlock Semiconductor, and MacKenzie Strangohr, operations leader for the Healthcare Industries Materials Site (HIMS).

Together, they announced and presented the awards to a large group of more than 150 educators, students and parents. Winners and honorable mentions were each awarded a Barnes & Noble gift card and community

calendar, and winners also had their artwork framed. Saginaw Arts & Science Academy also received a $1,000 check for the “best-of-the-best” artwork submissions, which is to be used for activities related to science and art.

“This is the eighth year that we’ve held this contest and I have to say, every year keeps getting better with greater participation, and every year I am thrilled to see all of the great artwork that is submitted, Kain said. “As you look through the calendar, you can tell we have a lot of talented and caring kids in this community who are clearly showing a passion for helping others and building a better future.”

Take a minute to read the Community Calendar and hang it up on your wall! It’s enclosed with this issue of the Community Connection and also contains useful safety information. • The front cover, inside cover and each month

feature winning artwork and quotes from area leaders about the importance of kid volunteers.

• The first inside page shares more contest details.• The Community Safety Information section

provides important safety details and tips.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this effort.

Community Connection

Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC 12334 Geddes Road Hemlock, Michigan 48626

989.301.5000 • www.hscpoly.com

summer of 2018. Postings for internships open in the fall and are also found at HSCPoly.com. Students from all universities that meet the educational requirements may apply.

Spread the word and check it out. We are always looking for future talent!

Kind regards,

Terence Robinson, Team Leader Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC

Career-Staring Programs continued from front page

STEM Festival continued from inside spread

continue to inspire STEM careers for years to come. According to event surveys, for example:

• 100% of teachers felt the event offered activities and resources not normally available in the classroom.

• 82% of teachers intend on using Mind Trekkers’ resources for their classrooms and 88% will share their learnings with other teachers.

• 74% of students said they were more interested in attend-ing college.

• 66% of students said they think about what scientists and engineers do in a different way.

It’s a Shoe-In!United Way Community Shoe Drive It’s easy to take a lot of things for granted, like owning a pair of shoes – right? Yet, for many people, affording a basic need like this is quite a challenge. So when Jaclyn Taylor, community investment coordinator for United Way of Saginaw County (UWSC), was exploring new ways to help the community and raise funds, the idea for a Community Shoe Drive was born.

“It is a fun and unique way to give back,” Taylor said. “We asked for gently used shoes and the community answered, including Hemlock Semiconductor Operations. The Shoe Drive not only gets shoes to those in need, but also keeps old shoes out of landfills, raises funds for United Way and gives people an easy way to give back to the community.”

When Taylor initially proposed the project to Hemlock Semiconductor, the company was totally on board, set- ting up containers for employees to donate gently used shoes and joining more than 50 other shoe collection locations in the community.

After collecting more than 13,000 pairs of shoes from June to September in the region, United Way then:

• Handpicked shoes that were like-new or still in their boxes and partnered with organizations to give them away locally to those in need.

Hemlock Semiconductor Operations LLC

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

• Sold the remaining shoes for $0.40 per pound to a shoe reconditioning company, which then cleans and refurbishes the shoes before giving them away to those in need globally. This also provides United Way with proceeds to fund other programs in the community too.

According to Terence Robinson, Hemlock Semiconductor team leader and UWSC Executive Board member, “The com-munity really stepped up and we are proud to be a part of this shoe drive effort. The dedication and energy of United Way and the fantastic support from everyone is what has made this such a successful project and fundraiser.”