By Dave Warner

On Monday morning, students from Tracy Young’s Engineering by Design classroom took an extensive tour of the Twin Rivers paper mill in Little Falls and were then treated to lunch from McDonalds.

Amanda Hobin, the company’s HR manager, said, “We actually don’t do student tours very often. We probably did two last year, and this is our first one for this school year.”

“I think it’s important for them to know what’s going on in their community and what they’re doing here. It’s exposure for us too because we really have a cool operation and make some nice products here that people don’t think about in everyday life,” she stated.

“When they go to McDonald’s and get their cheeseburger, the paper wrapping was made right here in Little Falls. It was eye-opening for me when I came to work here – all of the things that we make. I think it’s neat,” Hobin said.

Tracy Young took her students on the tour and said, “In EBD in fifth grade, our theme is called ‘our water, our world.’ So, we’re learning about recycling water and what we use water for. One of the stories that we’ve read is “A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry. It talks about factories and how rivers and canals used to be polluted by them.”

“The paper mill would make red water and dump it right into the Nashville River, which made it run red. So, when we were looking for a community trip, I thought this would be a good one,” she said.

Young recalled her father working at the mill and coming home with wrappers stuck to his pants. “I could see what color he was making.”

She also asked Twin Rivers if they’d sponsor the trip and buy the kids McDonald’s since they make the wrappers, and they said yes. “I’ll do this with each class. We’ll come four times, and hopefully, we can come next year. It ties in with our curriculum and is a good community-based project as well.”