On Monday afternoon, we had the opportunity to attend the ribbon cutting for the Intrepid Carlsbad Community School, located at Desert Willow Elementary. This after school program was put together thanks to an outstanding partnership between Intrepid Potash, the Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Municipal Schools. Intrepid made a very generous donation of $500,000.
We all want to help provide additional educational opportunities in any way possible. We have an outstanding school district, but our teachers and administrators are still facing an uphill battle to recover from COVID-19 setbacks and other delays. Programs such as this will provide local students with the advantages they need. We all want to see New Mexico move up the ladder in terms of educational success. Desert Willow students enrolled in the after-school program will have opportunities to use the STEM center, to receive homework help, and, if they are caught up, to participate in arts and craft or games. Hours of operation will generally be 2:30- 5:45 p.m.
This was a team effort, but special thanks goes to Bob Jornayvaz III, who is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer for Intrepid. Bob has been a great friend to Carlsbad and to education, and we appreciate everything he does. Intrepid has so many outstanding employees here, including Wendy Austin and Susan Crockett, who helped put this project together. Intrepid Potash has been one of Carlsbad’s strongest community partners for many years. Additionally, Intrepid East Mine was recently recognized again with a Sentinels of Safety Award for mining operations in the United States. This award is provided annually to the nation’s safest mines.
The program at Desert Willow is a pilot program. When it takes off, similar programs will be offered at other schools across Carlsbad. Thanks again to Intrepid for supporting this program.
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Another big announcement was made by Oxy during last week’s Energy Summit. Oxy made an extremely generous donation of $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad. These funds will be used to assist with the creation of a library and technology upgrades.
Special thanks to Brittany Steel, who is Oxy’s Subsurface Characterization Manager.
Brittany was one of our panelists at last week’s energy summit and did a great job.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway