Making Waves: KBR One Ocean

KBR is committed to building strong connections to our communities. One important outlet we have for that is KBR One Ocean, a special initiative that teaches children about the importance of sustainability, protecting natural habitats, and using science and technology to solve ecological problems. Listen as One Ocean U.K. co-leads Lauren Smith and Aimen Mirza discuss One Ocean curriculum, how One Ocean positively impacts both participants and volunteers, plans for the program’s future, and much more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello, I'm John, and this is In Orbit. Welcome to the podcast, friends around the world. Are you checking us out for the first time? Are you back for more? Whatever the case, we're just glad you're listening in and staying in our orbit. In Orbit is a podcast for everyone, whether inside or outside our business. In this episode, we're going to shine a light on a very special KBR initiative that started as a way to raise awareness in young people about ocean health and to teach them science-based strategies for combating pollution. That program is called KBR OneOcean. Since its inception, One Ocean has transformed into something much more important and further reaching. Today, OneOcean not only addresses ocean pollution but all kinds of human-related environmental issues. It teaches kids about the importance of keeping our oceans and our local environments clean. They learn about different kinds of wildlife and how they're affected by pollution. The kids learn about scientific approaches to mitigate pollution. And of course, as with most things at KBR, there's also an important people element. OneOcean provides KBR employees with opportunities to connect with their colleagues and people from their local communities. And OneOcean has also become an early talent pipeline, getting kids interested in careers in STEM and STEAM fields. And I am thrilled to welcome to the podcast today to talk about OneOcean, two special guests, Lauren Smith, who is a project delivery associate for Defense Nuclear Technology Solutions, and Eamon Mirza, graduate process engineer. Welcome to the both of you. Hi. Hello. Yeah, this is very exciting. I feel like we've been about to do a One Ocean episode for a long time, so it's nice to finally be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yes, definitely a long time coming.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Well, before we get started talking about One Ocean, as is our custom here on the podcast, Lauren, why don't we start with you? We would love to get to know the both of you and find out, you know, how you got to where you are today, how you ended up at KBR.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, so I joined about just under two years ago now. It was interesting because I actually spoke about how much I loved One Ocean as an initiative in my assessment center for my graduate role. So I, as soon as I got started, made sure I got in touch with the OneOcean team and firstly began on the committee as a digital lead. Later on, moved to be in the send captain team. And then after that, with Eamon and Marnie, have become the OneOcean lead.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Fantastic. How about you, Eamon?

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah, so I have a pretty long history of OneOcean actually. It all started when I came to KBR as a process engineering intern a few years ago. I had the chance to attend one of our One Ocean sessions as a volunteer. It was really random. One of the um junior engineers just came up to me and was like, hey, we've got a One Ocean session coming up. Are you interested? And I was like, what is OneOcean? And then he said the best way to find out is just come to a session. So I went to one. It was really fun. And uh by the end of my internship, because I had been volunteering so much, I actually became one of the team captains for the standard teams. So I helped organize the volunteers for that session, uh, for the sessions for the rest of the year. Then finished my internship, came back as a graduate. And my first year as a graduate, I spent as the curriculum lead for OneOcean. So I helped with organizing the content that we prepare and deliver to our schools. And then now in my second year as a graduate, I've joined Lauren Amani as uh the one of the OneOcean leads here in Leatherhead. So yeah, long way and I'm here now.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

That's fantastic. Well, it's it's wonderful to learn more about you both. I wonder if you wouldn't mind. Eamon, we'll start with you this time. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what KBR OneOcean is and what its purpose is?

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Yeah, of course. So the way we describe OneOcean is it is an employee-led initiative that aims to improve ocean literacy among the local young community. And the less jargony version of that is we visit local schools and we teach students about sustainability. And it started um in 2018 focusing on plastic pollution in the ocean. And since then, we've branched out to a lot of different sustainability topics, both focused on the ocean and also in general biodiversity, um, circular and linear economies. And yeah, we've also branched out to not just our local schools, but also looking at um SEM schools, which is special education use and disability schools. You know, it started off as something very educational, but it's also branched out to something focusing on social value. And yeah, it's it's hard to summarize really without actually attending a session yourself, but that's the best way I can describe it.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Fantastic. Uh Lauren, anything to add to that?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah, I think I'd just add that One Ocean as its purpose is to really branch out and make more of a community within our Leatherhead base. We have worked with so many lovely people from our local area who are really the essence of One Ocean along with our volunteers, and you build so many connections, meet so many other lovely volunteers along the way, and ultimately it provides our a great social value initiative within KVR.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Fantastic. Well, I know that it differs depending on where in the world you are. For example, there's a big One Ocean contingent in Australia in in APAC, and then there's also in Saudi Arabia, I believe, that's actually co-run with the state there. So we know that it varies from place to place, but I wonder if if you all, and Lauren, why don't we start with you this time? Would you give us some examples of what's going on with One Ocean out of Leatherhead there in the UK?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yeah, so as of this year, we have five schools and four youth groups that are on board with One Ocean, and we deliver about 65 plus sessions every year. Hopefully, we will continue to expand on that year and each year. And we aim for schools that may not naturally get these opportunities, and therefore we can support kind of their development opportunities. And more recently, we've started onboarding even more CEN schools who have a great love for OneOcean and really appreciate us coming in and connecting with their teachers and the students who get to see the difference we're making in our community and with OneOcean. And then recently we've been doing Cub sessions, which is a new thing we started this year. We go and deliver a really fun session, which is our pollution experiment. It starts with a big bucket of water, which, as you can guess, a load of cubs would absolutely love. And they cut in a load of different items which act as different elements of pollution. And then we we all talk about why we love the ocean and why we don't want our water to ultimately look like the mess it is after they've thrown in all of this stuff into it. And then we try and clear it all up and keep it really tidy and can see how difficult it is to kind of fix pollution once it's happened. And all of our club sessions we do are delivered by other volunteers within KBR who do this external to KBR in their separate lives, and we then can kind of support them who are volunteering also in our community.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

So let me let me ask a side question. Is anyone KBR employed able to volunteer to be a part of OneOcean, regardless of what their day-to-day activities are?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah, definitely. We encourage that.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Fantastic. Eamon, you were speaking about some examples of the kinds of subject matter and topics that you discussed. Would you tell us a little bit more about some of the curriculum that OneOcean teaches these young people?

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah, I'd love to. So around the time that I joined OneOcean as an intern, the curriculum was very focused on plastic pollution in the ocean. And so to summarize it, we split the curriculum into three terms that follow the school terms. And the first term focused on looking at plastic pollution in the ocean and general environmental problems caused by that. The second term looked at a continuation of that, but looking further into how we can prevent some of the pollution, some of the other environmental impacts. And then the third term would focus on regenerative engineering solutions. So actually bringing at home the topic and talking to the kids about what we're doing to prevent some of the issues we discussed in the previous two terms. But now we have expanded it to just all sorts of sustainability topics. And so the three terms that we're going with right now, and actually this is the first year we've done this, is term one looks at linear and circular economies and kind of a lot of the traditional kind of plastic pollution type topics we discussed in previous years. And the second term jumps into biodiversity and animals. And we wanted to go into that topic because we found in the past a lot of kids, pretty much at all the schools we've gone to have wanted to know more about that and have always been interested in see animals and how they, you know, come to the picture. And then in term three, we plan to talk about STEM. And it's hard to kind of define in one word, but it'll be a mix of more science-based topics that link to sustainability and discussions of some of the sustainability-related careers that they can do in the future. And we hope to spotlight a few specific sustainability-focused careers in KBR as part of term three. And another thing we are trying to do now with the curriculum is implement projects. So each term has kind of a term-long project. And an example of that is we're getting our schools now to develop board games based on the biodiversity and animal topics that they learnt about. So they're now just starting to build the board game, and they had been designing it in the past few sessions. So that was a lot. But um that there's so much to talk about in the curriculum, and it's always being developed.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Oh, that's amazing. I feel so happy for all the kids that you all are working with. That's fantastic. I was thrilled to see that you all had sent along a sound clip of young Master Oliver King speaking about his experience with KBR One Ocean. So I'd love our audience to get a chance to listen to him.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Dear KBR One Ocean, I want to say a massive thank you for all that you have taught us and all we have learned. For I personally think you're one of my favorites. Being nice, showing respect, and helping people when they're starting is the definition of you guys. If I fall of any clubs at all, and if I could only choose one to be twice and be every week, I would choose KBR1 Ocean. I would choose this club because of the amazing things you learn, like why there are less sea turtles or coral reefs, which is really interesting to learn. Every time I see you, I feel prepared to gain all the excitement I gain from learning and sharing ideas with you. I hope I've impressed you with all that I write every week. Oliver King 7G.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

So that was Oliver. Lauren, would you tell us a little bit about your experience getting to know Oliver and working with him?

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yes, so Oliver is from St. Andrews, one of our local schools, and we've worked with them for about four years now. And I think Oliver's been attending for at least two or three of them. And he has an absolute passion for all things ocean-related, anything sustainable. He's definitely a future sustainability manager in the making, and it is so lovely to have a chat to him and kind of share any knowledge we've got and let him speak to people that are in the industries he'd like to be in in the future.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

That's wonderful. From what the two of you have seen, what's the response been from the kids that you're working with?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Ultimately, they love KPR, they love having us in. We're a break from their normal school days. So we we bring a lot of fun and we bring something completely different to what they're doing. I think most of the students now are so passionate about these sort of things, and I think they quite often feel like they're not discussed as much as they'd like in schools. So when we come in purely for the purpose of talking about ocean literacy and sustainability, they're super involved and they want to tell us all the things they're doing to kind of support their environment and their community.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Eamon, how about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah, I mean, the the first thing I think of with that question is with some of our send schools, we've actually heard from teachers that they're very passionate about these topics and something like One Ocean gives them the opportunity to come out of their shell and be more excited about something. It and it's really inspiring to see because when you go to these sessions, you do see them light up and when we give them the opportunity to bring their own thoughts to the table and talk about topics that they love but don't really get to talk about in school. So yeah, it's just it's just that enthusiasm and excitement. That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Well, we've talked a little bit about curriculum. What are some of the other activities that OneOcean helps sponsor? Eamon, do you want to go ahead?

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah, that's okay. Uh because I I have this in my head as well that I wanted to mention. Another thing we organize and and sponsor for these schools is trips. So we've been doing it for quite a few years now, and one of the staple trips that we take our kids to is a Brighton beach cleanup. So we'll spend a bit of time in the aquarium nearby, and then we'll do a beach cleanup. We'll run a little activity during lunch. And it's fully funded by us, and the kids always have a great time. The teachers have a great time, the volunteers who go from KBR have a great time. Um, more recently, we took uh one of our send schools to a send day at Winchester Planetarium, and that was a lot of fun. Again, not just for the kids, but for the volunteers too. And yeah, we like to do things like that just to get them out of the classroom because as fun and exciting as we make our sessions, it's never quite the same as when you get to go out and experience something completely different.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

How about you, Lauren?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, I think to build on that, we also do office visits. So one of the feedback we got from our teachers is that a lot of these students don't see direct paths to careers, and with us going into schools and having such a focus on being people within an in the industry, it's great for them to be able to see what we do and what our jobs entail. So when they come to the office, we show them everyone that is included in building KBR and making the day-to-day of KBR run. So that's anyone from the people that help in the canteen to the people that are on reception to the people doing engineering and the project management. And they get so passionate meeting us and asking us questions and finding these things out. And it's been so lovely that that's something that teachers have kind of asked us to implement and we've been able to deliver it.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

That's great. I was about to ask what the response from teachers in the local area has been, and and is building, I guess, relationships with them helping to perpetuate OneOcean in a lot of ways by keeping it, you know, a regular part of curriculum.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, I may be biased, but I think the teachers we have are some of the best out there, and they're so supportive and so lovely, and just absolutely want their best for their students, and we love that.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Fantastic. Well, what are some future plans for KBR OneOcean? And I'll let whichever one of you wants to go first answer.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Should I go first, Lauren? Yeah, go for it. So when you say future plans, we've done so much this year, but thinking about the future, the first thing that comes to my mind is honestly the spin-off.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

So for those who don't know, it's been announced publicly that that KBR is splitting off its mission technology solutions business over the next year or so, hopefully less time, into a standalone company. So that's what we are talking about when we refer to the spin-off. Sorry, go ahead anyway.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Yeah, no, thank you, John. I I was just gonna say, am I how how much can I be able to do that?

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah, so I I think about that because I mean, for example, Lauren and I are from the the two sides of the business, and you know, Lauren Marnie and I work together as a team, and with this spin-off, we will we will become two teams almost. Um and I think there's a lot of opportunities for growth and a lot of details that need to be figured out. And the top of my mind right now is actually wanting to have that discussion of how we're gonna make one ocean work and and um what what is it gonna look like post-spin-off for both sides of the business? So that's the first thing I think of. Lauren, anything else?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, I think for in terms of future plans, I'm thinking a lot more near future. In the next month, we are delivering more than we've ever delivered as one ocean team. And we've got our West Hill Workshops, which is a new school we've decided to onboard. It's um a local SEND school, which also works with, but we were almost recommended to them by one of our other schools we work with. And we've gone in to deliver some workshops, all focused around kind of building sustainable solutions. They're gonna get to buy recycled material from us and ultimately try and build something. And we're so excited to kind of see what they come up with and what they're gonna build. And alongside that, we're running all of our usual sessions as well as cub sessions. So I guess it's a big thank you to all the people out there that are helping us and volunteering to help us deliver as much as we are in the future.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Oh, that's so wonderful. It's it's great to hear that there are plans or at least thinking about what OneOcean will look like post-spin, but then also how the program is going to continue to grow. It's really inspiring what you all are doing. So just a couple more questions, and then I'll let you guys get on with the the end of your day, and I'll get on with the start of mine. What are the benefits of participating? I guess right now I'm talking about for KBR employees who might be interested in getting involved, and how can they get involved if they would like to? I guess specifically in Leatherhead, or if you've got some advice to impart to listeners who are working elsewhere at KBR locations.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Yeah, so in terms of benefits, I think ultimately I joined OneOcean because I wanted a support network within the company. You meet so many people, and it's not just people from your department, but all over different projects and areas of KBR. And it gives you that break from the office to go out and do something that's completely different, to step away from your laptop screen and see the joy and the enthusiasm these students have. And every volunteer that goes comes back and says it was made their day, or a student made a funny joke to them and it made it just brought a lot of joy to them. And we're so lucky that every one of our volunteers puts their absolute best foot forward to represent KBR and show the utmost kindness and respect towards these students. So I'd say anyone that's thinking about volunteering, definitely do it. It's one of the best things I've done within my time at KBR, and we can really work with whatever capacity or whatever way you want to volunteer. We have people that come and have an interesting idea for a session, something they're passionate about and they really want to deliver, or people that really want to go to the schools and meet the students and deliver. So it works, it works in any way, and I think it's just all about reach out to either myself or Eamon or any OneOcean, anyone that talks about OneOcean will be able to point you in the right direction of who you need to speak to to get involved.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Eamon, how about you?

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Yes. So I guess taking a step back, how OneOcean is structured is we have all of our volunteers, and that's what Lauren's just described of getting involved as a volunteer and going to one of our sessions or trips. But there's a team, a committee who organize all of that. And you can also get involved in the committee. So as Lauren and I described earlier, you you know, I was the curriculum lead, uh, Lauren was the digital lead. There are roles like that that are available always. We're always looking for more people with with new ideas to get involved and have their say. And in terms of benefits, you learn a lot, whatever role you take. Um, you know, if if you join the committee as an events planner, you learn a lot about how to plan an event in KBR, how to make all of that work, how to, you know, sort out budget. There's so many aspects, I don't even need to describe them all. We have, you know, the curriculum leader I can speak for that. It teaches you a lot about organization and planning and understanding that you can have the best plan ever with the curriculum, and then you know, day-to-day things happen and you have to adapt. There's a lot of leadership skills that you can gain just from joining the committee that maybe you wouldn't have gained otherwise. I mean, there are so many lessons I've learned as part of the One Ocean committee, and now one of the One Ocean leads that I just wouldn't have had.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, I think I can speak for the same. Obviously, I'm I'm doing project management in my day-to-day, but through One Ocean, I've learned those kind of people skills. We manage a committee of 15 or 16 people, it is now. And that's kind of skills and opportunities that I wouldn't have had until a lot later on in my career. So it's great to have had that learning experience now.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to onboard skills that you maybe didn't know that you were interested in having to begin with. And then also getting to make the kinds of interpersonal connections that you're making with other people with like interests, and then certainly with the with the kids that you're working with. It sounds like positives all the way around. Almost loath to end the conversation, but I I wonder if there's anything else that you that you all would like to add or pointing people toward any resources where they can learn more about OneOcean. However, you'd like to add some final thoughts before we part ways.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Well, we were present for Zero Harm Day. Uh I know that that's just happened uh I don't know how long ago from when people are listening to this, but if you are interested uh in in looking at what we did, we've posted about it on all of the uh the social sites of NKBR.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Oh, fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I guess as a part of what uh Zero Harm Day, we also were so lucky to receive a Zero Harm award for our team, which was just lovely. And we also have just by the canteen, if you walk into the Leatherhead campus, you'll see a big wall of all OneOcean posters, pictures, um, comments from the students that you can have a look at and get a real idea of what OneOcean is and what it's like.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Yeah. Another thing to add if people who are listening to this have kids who go to schools local to Leatherhead or even local to another office, and you think maybe your school could benefit from One Ocean, please reach out and let us know. Um Because we're also obviously interested in expanding to other schools. And oh, also, this discussion has been very heavily focused on Leatherhead One Ocean. But OneOcean, as we mentioned earlier, is a global thing and every office uh does it in their own way. And um I I do want to highlight here that if you're not based on Leatherhead, if you're based in another office and you're curious, pursue it. See if you can find who at your office is involved in OneOcean and get involved. I will shout out. Am I okay to shout out? Absolutely. Um our friend Doha El Amrani from uh Abu Dhabi, she's based in the Abu Dhabi office and she's trying to kick off One Ocean over there. Um so if you're in the Abu Dhabi office and you're listening to this and and you're interested in OneOcean, please reach out to her. So yeah, that that's what I would say.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Yeah. If you're if you're a KBR employee listening to this, they're active OneOcean, I don't know, chapter is the right word, but in Houston, in Saudi Arabia, in APAC in Australia, and in Leatherhead, and now it sounds like Abu Dhabi, and I think in other locations around the world as well. So if you are interested and you are a KBR employee, you can either check out the intranet and do a search there. You can also look on, I believe on the website on KBR.com to look there. And then now you can probably look through the handy KBR Pulse app to see if there's information available through the Pulse app. Any final thoughts, either of you, that you'd like to leave our audience with?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

I think a massive thank you for you for having us. It was lovely to come on to the podcast and shout about all the amazing things our team are doing.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Thank you, Lauren, for saying that. It's been my pleasure having you all on the podcast and to to talk at long last about one ocean.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

There's one thing I forgot to mention earlier. We have a team of curriculum volunteers as well. So if anybody listening works in an area relevant to what we've discussed, whether it's ocean sustainability, something like emissions tracking, just trying to think of what it could be, um, please reach out. We're always looking for good examples of sustainable careers like I discussed earlier that we can teach our kids about because they're all very passionate about sustainability and would like to know what they can do in the future. Um, yeah, we'd be really eager to hear stories and and experiences.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Fantastic. Well, Lauren Smith, Eamon Mirza, thank you so much for not only what you do with KBR, but what you're doing with OneOcean. And I can't wait to speak with you both again pre-post-spin to see what's happening with OneOcean and what's happening with the both of you. So thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Thank you. Thank you very much. And that's a little about KBR OneOcean, a program that's good for the planet, good for our communities, and good for inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists. We want to thank Lauren Smith and Eamon Mirza for sharing a bit about their experiences with OneOcean and for the amazing work they're doing with their colleagues there in the UK. If you're a KBR employee and want to learn more about OneOcean or about how you can get involved, you can visit the OneOcean SharePoint site on the KBR Intranet. If you're outside the company and would like to learn more, you can visit the community involvement page under the What We Do section on KBR.com. If you like what you heard today and have an idea for a future episode, please do not hesitate to email us at inorbit at KBR.com. And as always, a big thank you to all of you listening wherever you are. There's a lot happening at this moment in history. The world can feel dark and heavy. In such times, connections become even more important. Connections to friends, neighbors, loved ones, even to strangers. Hopefully, this humble little podcast helps you feel a little more connected. Please know that we appreciate the time you've spent with us and thank you for keeping us in your orbit. Until next time, be kind to each other and take care.