Dec. 8, 2005 — Seventeen residents of St. Croix received certificates for their completion of training in refinery operation in a ceremony at the Hovensa refinery last Friday. Family members and friends of the graduates witnessed the ceremony.
In remarks made by officers of Hovensa the new refinery operators were congratulated for their completion of the twelve-week classroom and field training program and were reminded of the importance of performing their work safely as they begin their duties as refinery operators. In his remarks, Marco Crovesi, vice president and deputy chief operating officer, reviewed the mission, vision and values of Hovensa. He pointed out that one of the visions of the company is "to be the safest, cleanest and most environmentally responsible refinery in the world."
Peter Barba, vice president of refinery operations, said that safety is their most important responsibility. He also reminded them that they had become employees of Hovensa to advance their families financially. Barba told the graduates, "If you don't work safely, you can't enrich your families' lives."
Richard Smullen, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety, told the graduates "don't try to be safe – that not good enough – do it!" Smullen informed them that Hovensa employees had recently completed 1,000,000 work hours without an injury for the second time this year. He appealed to the new operators to do their part to make it possible for the company to surpass this record in 2006.
The new process operators are: Melissa Barker-Lake, Duane J. Bassue, Jason A. Battiste, Carol A. Christian, Aubrey Drummond, Anthony Joachim, Perry Levons, Robert Martinez, Edward Peter, Dennis G. H. Richards, Shayne E. Richards, Paul A. Ruiz III, Ansel Smith, Carolyn Urgent, Salim G. Yacub, and Myles Young
Ruiz was the valedictorian of the class. A native of St. Croix and a graduate of the St. Croix Educational Complex, he was commended by Manager of Operations Technical Training Gino LaPointe for getting the highest grade average in the class despite attending four night-classes at the University of the Virgin Islands at the same time. Robert Martinez was the salutatorian of the process operations class. Ruiz and Martinez were both given awards for the scholastic achievement, and Anthony Joachim was given an award for having made the best safety presentation.
Barba noted that this was the second graduation ceremony in 2005. Twenty-five residents of St. Croix completed refinery operation training in June. Barba announced that the company plans to have three successive classes in refinery operation next year.
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