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A group of students at the Fisher Manufacturing Center, Boulder, Colorado. Erik Stolz is center left, in white shirt.

“100% worth it!”

As the first-ever Ball Career Day wound to a close at the ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, sophomore aerospace major Erik Stolz was nearly bowled over with excitement.

“It was incredibly impactful. To actually have Ball provide a tour of their manufacturing center – it was so incredible to see how a company operates day-to-day,” Stolz said.

Stolz experienced firsthand what life is like at the Broomfield, Colorado-based business as a participant in one of a series of special tours and panel discussions offered to ��ƷSM����ӰƬ students on Sept. 20.

A student wearing a Ball VR headset.

A group of students in a production facility with a Ball employee.

Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 17,500 people worldwide (nearly 4,000 in Colorado) and 2017 net sales were $11 billion.

“I think there’s a really good ethos among people who work for Ball of wanting to give our time and be advocates for the company. We genuinely like where we are working,” said Brian DiLaura, a Ball software engineer and fellow ��ƷSM����ӰƬ graduate (ElCompEngr‘16).

Career Day grew out of the company’s long-standing relationship with ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, which dates back to 1956, when engineers from CU’s “Rocket Project” helped to found the Ball Brothers Research Corporation (now Ball Aerospace) — and has since expanded to include multiple shared NASA contracts. The Ball Foundation also has provided long-time funding for programs in Engineering and the Leeds School of Business. Other collaborations have included senior design projects, Leeds case studies, mentorship activities and internships.

“I got an internship at Ball in 2016 and they kept me as an intern until I finished my degree. Then I got hired on full time. Tonight‘s a way – not to be cliché – of giving back,” said Ball Aerospace systems engineer Glenda Alvarenga (E+ AeroEngr‘18).

The willingness of employees to give back (cliché or not) made the evening gathering fully worth it for senior aerospace major Alejandro Corral, who met one of Ball’s senior executives.

“Having company senior leadership surrounding us like this is miraculous. It was insane that one leader greeted me and shook my hand and started talking to me,” said Corral. “Speaking to the company leaders like that was an experience you wouldn’t get at a career fair.”

Ball Career Day sessions included tours, panel discussions with Ball executives and employees in these areas:

• High-Speed Beverage Can Manufacturing
• Aerospace Manufacturing
• Aerospace Technology Demonstrations
• Beverage Packaging Marketing and Innovation
• Sustainability
• Finance
• Supply Chain