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CWS Partner Feature: Avient Corporation

With global headquarters and numerous facilities in northeast Ohio, Avient Corporation (NYSE: AVNT), provides specialized and sustainable material solutions that transform customer challenges into opportunities, bringing new products to life for a better world. Taking their commitment to bettering the world one step further, Avient has proudly partnered with Saint Martin’s Corporate Work Study program since 2008, helping our students become college and career-prepared.

Avient joined the work study program thanks to the company’s CEO, Bob Patterson who served as a Board of Trustees member at Saint Martin. He recognized the importance of preparing Cleveland’s next generation of workforce leaders and knew his company could be part of the movement. Now 14 years later, his employees share his same passion and commitment to the program.

Dennis Richards, Accounts Payable Supervisor shares, “From a leadership perspective, the Corporate Work Study program is more than having a helping hand in the office. It’s an opportunity to mentor a fresh, young mind that has not seen the professional world. We have the chance to show them our company’s work, explain its importance, and how our collaborative work can help solve challenges for customers…and our planet.”

And what an incredible set of helping hands they have! Avient’s student workers Heaven ‘22 and Jackie ‘23 bring joy to the workplace while building a professional resume. Jackie works in Avient’s IT Department and spends his work days taking inventory, reviewing spreadsheets for data accuracy, and fixing computer servers. He recently showed interest in troubleshooting laptops and desktop computers which his supervisor, Dick Pufnock, plans to introduce him to in the next few weeks. Dick’s favorite part of supervising Jackie is sharing life lessons related to punctuality, teamwork, and accountability.

Heaven ‘22 is a more seasoned member of the Avient team, working there over the last 4 years with the exception of workplace shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Avient’s Lab Supervisor, Nick Heiing, notes, “Although at first she was mainly performing administrative tasks, her work responsibilities have grown, and she has developed to perform sophisticated duties alongside our lab technicians. She is able to do sample preparation, cut specimens out with dies, notch bars for impact testing, and perform some sample tests herself. It’s been incredible to see how she has grown from freshman to senior year with the company.”

Avient is proud to have mentored over 50 Saint Martin students and is looking forward to continued partnership next year. Richards shares, “The dollar amount we invest to be part of the work study program is far outweighed by the satisfaction and mutual benefits all parties receive. We are able to help support the valuable education and preparation of these wonderful students, made possible by the time at Saint Martin. We are proud to play a role so that they have the best tools available to create change, find fulfillment, and build the future.”

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Avient employs approximately 8,700 associates and is certified ACC Responsible Care®, a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and certified Great Place to Work®. For more information, visit www.avient.com/.