GP gives $2,500 to Sweet Water robotics

Recently, at Georgia-Pacific’s Naheola operations in Pennington, Ala., Mill Manager Kelvin Hill presented Kevin Byrd, Sweet Water High School’s science, technology, engineering, & math (STEM) teacher, with a $2,500 check to support the school’s participation in the Boosting Engineering Science and Technology (BEST) Robotics program. Included in the photo is a picture of the robot used in this year’s competition.

GP has supported the school’s BEST Robotics Inc. team for three years. On October 5th, the Sweet Water High School Robotics team, or S.W.A.T., participated in Jubilee B.E.S.T. Robot Competition along with 31 other schools from the gulf coast region in Mobile, Alabama. Sweet Water High School placed 2nd in robot competition.

They also received 3rd place in Exhibit Booth and Interviews and 4th Overall. The team advanced to regionals in Auburn, Alabama for the fourth consecutive year. In addition to GP’s monetary donation, several Naheola Mill employees participating in ServiceForce, GP’s employee volunteer program, assisted the robotics team. GP’s support focuses on education and entrepreneurship which are deemed by the company to be essential areas of long-term skills development.