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Pictured in the back row (l-r): Ted Purington, Jr., executive vice president; Bill Purington, President & CEO. Pictured front row (l-r): Mitchell Green, senior vice president; Dan Werner, senior vice president; John Capasso, MD president; Tim Maynard, CFO; Todd Barrett, regional vice president.
To mark its 50th anniversary, Maine Drilling & Blasting of Gardiner, Maine, has established recurring scholarships at five educational institutions in states where the company has a presence, including Vermont Technical College in Randolph. Maine Drilling & Blasting credits the importance of local service to its success over the past half-century by establishing named scholarships at local universities and technical colleges throughout its service area. The other beneficiaries are the University of Maine, Central Connecticut State University, Pennsylvania College of Technology, and University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
The total award for each school is $5,000, with $1,000 per year for five years given to each institution to provide financial assistance to students who are enrolled full-time and majoring in civil engineering technology or construction management. The scholarships have both academic and need-based criteria.
The initial awards will generally be made in the fall of 2016. VTC is now promoting the scholarship. The VTC website lists the criteria for consideration for the scholarship:
- Be enrolled full-time
- Be enrolled in civil engineering or construction management
- Have an interest in or aspiration for working in a field-based position for a heavy-civil related, self-perform construction company
- Have a minimum 2.5 GPA
- Be in good academic standing and/or have financial need
- Be a U.S. citizen or authorized to work full-time for a U.S. company with our visa sponsorship
- Preference is given to a student who has or will complete an internship with Maine Drilling & Blasting
Students will be nominated by civil engineering and construction management faculty, according to the website.
Maine Drilling & Blasting is a leading provider of skilled drilling, rock blasting and related specialty services in the Northeast United States, and is one of the largest in the country. The family business has grown to more than 350 employees and in 2004 began the transition to employee ownership. In addition to the corporate office in Maine, Maine Drilling & Blasting has offices in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
Hard work, honesty and quality service were the simple yet sacred principles upon which Ted Purington, Sr. and his wife, Judy, founded Maine Drilling & Blasting in Maine, back in 1966. Throughout the years that followed, the company expanded its footprint from Maine to New England, then on through the Northeast, and now through the Mid-Atlantic region. Despite its size and reach, MD&B focuses on local service.
“We’ve always worked to grow regional markets with local people,” explained company president and CEO Bill Purington. “That means local employees and resources for supply and distribution. We’ve made it a point to commit to a local presence wherever we go. That’s how we started; that’s how we operate today.”
