With International Women and Girls in Science Day coming up on February 11, it’s a perfect time to catch up with Alexandra Bledsoe, Lead Production Engineer in the Brandenburg Polychem Unit. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Alexandra joined Monument in 2015 immediately after graduating from the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. She had a choice of several companies to join and says the Monument colleagues she met while doing interviews were a major factor in her decision to kick off her career here: “Everyone was super friendly and encouraging, and I knew there would be many opportunities here for me to grow as an engineer.” Now, after eight years with us, she remains convinced she made the right choice.

Everyone at Brandenburg’s Pilot Plant knows the name Forest Richardson. The Plant Technician is not only a seasoned vet in the chemical industry, but he’s also the longest-serving employee in Monument’s company history. This past December, he celebrated his 50 years, boasting a long history of career advancement, experience, and contributions that have helped make our Pilot Plant what it is today. He’s learned a lot over the last 5 decades — and we’ve all learned a lot from him! Now, he’s sharing his wonderful story with us. Congrats, Forest!

Everyone loves a good underdog story — and call us biased, but there isn’t one quite like that of Monument Brandenburg. From the beginning, the team has faced tough economic times, multiple leadership changes, and employee turnover, but always finds a way through it and a new reason to celebrate. Over the last ten years, the Brandenburg team has continued to diversify their portfolio, strengthen customer relationships, improve services, and make a positive impact on their community.

SEMI, the industry association serving the global electronics design and manufacturing supply chains, announced the founding members of the new Semiconductor Climate Consortium (SCC). This group is designed to accelerate industry supply chain efforts to reduce the ecosystem’s greenhouse gas emissions by working together on common goals. As one of 65 founding members, Monument Chemical is excited to work together with its supply chain partners to advance sustainability manufacturing practices and better serve its electronic business customers in this capacity.

Every year, the Monument Chemical Brandenburg Community Partnership Initiative (CPI) selects a recipe for success for its annual $10,000 Community Partnership Initiative (CPI) grant, which supports the education of youth in the local community. And this year, that recipe for success was found in the kitchen!

Whenever Sergeant Tim Hendley, of the Brandenburg Police Department, drives past Nichol Park, he’s transported years back to the days when his son, Devin, would shoot around on the then-run down basketball courts surrounded by ill-kept fields. What was once a fond memory of the park became the inspiration for a new chapter for kids all across the community — one that Monument had to be a part of.

Over the last 10 years, Monument’s Intern and Co-Op programs have produced several incredible success stories for young, aspiring environmental scientists and engineers. Likewise, the talent and work ethic within both programs has been just as impactful to our businesses and functions, often teaching us as much as we teach them! And that couldn’t be more true with our current class. 

This year’s interns and co-ops were eager to share some of the top insights from their Monument experience…

With over 45 schools in the Clear Creek Independent School District, there’s a lot of potential future engineers and scientists coming through the ranks every year. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for most of these students or their teachers to think these are the only two paths our industry has to offer. Lucky for them, Monument’s partnership with Clear Creek Education Foundation (CCEF) and Clear Creek ISD (CCISD) is on a mission to change that — and a whole lot more.

A business expansion is a positive thing. That doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be some growing pains that come along with it. So, when Monument Chemical Kentucky made the decision to expand by doubling the production of their amination unit, they anticipated some side effects in terms of excess aqua ammonia. But creative thinking and perseverance turned a messy situation into a historic win for the Kentucky team. 

On February 28, 2022, seven teams of four bright, young scientists from Hardin and Meade Counties took to the stage at Stuart Pepper Middle School for the You Be The Chemist regional competition. In hopes of winning the title and securing a spot in Nationals down in Houston Texas, each team faced four rounds of ten challenging questions across a variety of scientific topics.