St. John schools get Marathon donations

Principals from all of St. John the Baptist Parish’s public and private schools gathered at Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville refinery Tuesday to accept donations for the next school year from plant officials.

The refinery already has established partnerships with East St. John Elementary, East St. John High School and Garyville/Mt. Airy Math and Science Magnet, but this year plant officials decided to expand the partnership program to include the remaining schools in the parish. Each principal, or administrative representative, left with a $1,000 check to be used for any school-related cause. Plant Manager Aulton “Bubbie” Anderson said the presentation marks the beginning of what he hopes will be an annual donation to parish schools.

“This is about improving the parish and improving the state,” Anderson said. “We have always had a commitment to our adopted schools in the region but want that commitment to branch out further.”

East St. John High School Principal Patricia Triche, whose school has partnered with Marathon for the past three years, said the plant has always been more than a monetary donor.

“Their employees help out in our labs,” Triche said. “They help us with man power. They have helped us clean classrooms and barcode books in our library. They are a huge resource.”

East St. John Elementary School Principal Jerry Galloway echoed Triche’s sentiments and said the school’s 14-year partnership with Marathon has been a tremendous help.

“There are a lot of in-kind services that they do for us,” Galloway said. “They come out for lab days, science days and countless other events. The students are always entertained while learning new things about science and math.”