The Warren Sentinel

Article date: May 12, 2005

Royal Phoenix Open House to focus on the future

Community’s youth encouraged to tie interests to careers

By: Roger Bianchini

This Saturday’s Royal Phoenix Open House will be different from past annual open houses at the former Avtex Fibers site.

First and most obvious is the name change designed to signal the move from cleanup to redevelopment at the former synthetic fibers manufacturing plant closed in 1989 for environmental pollution of its land and the Shenandoah River.

But tied to that change is a subtle move to utilize the ongoing cleanup and redevelopment process at the 467-acre Superfund site to help the county’s youth develop visions of both their own and their community’s futures.

The connection between the future of the Avtex/Royal Phoenix site and the futures of the community’s youth is a logical one, Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Paul Carroll believes.

“What we’re hoping to do here is bring this redevelopment project together with this community’s growing commitment to its educational system and begin to get the young people to start looking at their interests and say ‘Are there ways I can use these personal interests in my future not only from a personal stand point but also for a career, and what type of educational background will I need to achieve that?’

“And what we are striving toward with the help of Warren County Public Schools is thinking about the different ways students can use their personal interests to move forward in creating their futures,” Carroll added.

 “Pam McInnis and the schools have been fantastic,” Carroll said of Warren Public Schools and its superintendent.  He said members of school clubs with particular interests that might relate to the Avtex project have been invited to participate in Saturday’s open house from noon to 3 p.m.  An invitation will also be extended to the entire student body.

Carroll pointed out that the Chamber of Commerce is also involved in developing a youth leadership class to mirror its existing adult Leadership Classes as a part of the community-wide outreach to the community’s youth.

“The applications for that will be available for the first time at the open house,” Carroll said.

Carroll said cleanup partners like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, former site owner FMC, and project marketing contractor North American Reality Services, among others, will be represented by engineers, scientists, and visiting scholars at Saturday’s site event.

“These are all individuals who have utilized their backgrounds and interests to develop careers,” Carroll said.