This June, P.J. Keating opened their doors to more than 300 sixth graders from Sky View Middle School for their 11th annual field trip. P.J. Keating has been welcoming students from Sky View in Lunenburg for years, giving students a closer look at what goes on in P.J. Keating’s quarry and asphalt plant.

Students were first given a presentation by Dan Brodeur, Oldcastle Energy and former QC manager, about what exactly goes on at P.J. Keating. They learned about safety, recycling, and how rock can go from the walls of a quarry all the way down to the asphalt in the roads and the piles of stone they’d soon see on their tour. Dan brought with him samples of cores pulled from roads, and tins showing the stages and steps that stone goes through for students to handle and examine. He also quizzed students about different types of rock that they learned in their Science classes and described the kind that can be found on the P.J. Keating site. (Primarily gneiss.)

Over three days, more than 300 students were shown through the quarry and asphalt plant by bus (given their own personal bump caps for safety) to take in the sights, learn about the process and get a better understanding of what P.J. Keating does. Students were captivated watching the huge dump trucks, getting up close with the Asphalt silos and seeing the depths of the quarry. They saw and learned brand new things on their field trip; like that P.J. Keating is on top a fault line and uses about the same about of electricity as all the homes in Lunenburg.

The tour and presentations are designed to integrate with Sky Views’ Earth Science and Math curriculum and teachers were given packets filled with material they could examine along with their students back in the classroom. Each bus tour was accompanied by a P.J. Keating employee and students were encouraged to ask their tour guides questions to further their learning and discover new things. Students were given bump caps to keep as well as Earth Ball and Granite Rock squeeze toys.

P.J. Keating values getting involved with our local community and is happy to see such interested and enthusiastic children excited to learn about stone and asphalt. We want to thank all our employees and tour guides for their participation as well as Sky View Middle School for their visit and continued enthusiasm and appreciation for our work!

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