Choptank Transport Helps Mentor Future Leaders
Choptank employee volunteers for the Junior Achievement program: (L-R) sitting: Jennifer Max, Lisa Padgette, Morgan Watkins, Morgan Chatkewitz, Pam Hutchinson. Photo: Choptank
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Choptank employee volunteers for the Junior Achievement program: (L-R) sitting: Jennifer Max, Lisa Padgette, Morgan Watkins, Morgan Chatkewitz, Pam Hutchinson. Photo: Choptank
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When it comes to improving the image of the trucking industry and getting young people interested in pursuing careers, it’s hard to beat the personal approach of being involved with your community’s youth. It’s summer vacation now, but it’s a good time to start thinking about how you could get more involved this next school year.
Choptank Transport, a Preston, Maryland-based third-party logistics company, has worked with the Character Counts program for the past decade teaching local children about the six pillars of character. Volunteers are asked to speak for 15-20 minutes once a week throughout the school year. The topic of discussion rotates around the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. The role of the volunteer is to help reinforce these character traits along with the school with real-life examples and varied perspectives.
Matt MacCoy, a Choptank Transport area sales manager, has done it for several years and last year taught a third grade class at Preston Elementary. “I love coaching,” he says. “It is easy to talk about the six pillars because they all relate in some way to what we do here at Choptank, so conveying real world examples from the workplace is easy.”
This year, Choptank also started working with Junior Achievement. The program focuses on youth financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, and this spring, 13 Choptank Transport employees signed up to volunteer to teach JA’s hands-on, age-appropriate lessons.
This was the first year the JA program was available in Choptank’s home county, according to Choptank spokesperson Harriet Mills. “There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about this program because leadership and mentoring are a big part of our work …Read the rest of this story
