Early Career

Reading Together and Building Community

Staff Reports

About the author:  My name is Martin, and I’m about to complete my fourth year with Williams. I interned for three summers and began working full-time immediately after graduating. They just couldn’t keep me away! I’m currently working in the Engineering & Tactical Projects group, but have worked in our Environmental Compliance group and as a division engineer in the Transco Princeton Division.Martin pic 2

One of the great things about working for Williams is the company’s involvement in the community – we love to support the communities where we live and work.  We just finished our United Way campaign, where we focused on awareness and fund-raising.

One opportunity that stood out to me was a program called Reading Together. It pairs a working professional with a 2nd or 3rd grade student and they spend an hour a week reading…together. The goal is to increase the student’s reading proficiency. As soon as I heard about this, I knew I had to get involved and offer my time.

Growing up, English was definitely not my first language. Learning it was weird. The language has so many odd and funny rules. To an outsider, the English language and its grammar rules can be a nightmare. For example, night and knight…. I’m pretty sure I tried pronouncing the latter as “ka-night” plenty of times! I know firsthand how difficult it can be to become adept with the English language, so I’m more than happy to help.

For the next ten weeks, I’ll spend an hour on Thursday mornings helping my reading buddy with her reading. So far, she loves anything to do with animals.  I really hope that she’ll grow up to love reading as much as I do!