Crusoe joins DPR Construction and the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene for a two-day ‘Construction Workshop’

In July, Crusoe joined DPR Construction and the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene for a two-day Construction Camp. About 100 club members between the ages of 8 and 12 took part, roughly 60 on the floor each day, for five hours of building a day and ten hours across the two. It is DPR's third annual camp in Abilene and the first one Crusoe has joined. Volunteers from both companies showed up with tools, lumber, and the kind of specifics that turn "construction" from a word into a job a kids can picture doing.

Two days of hands-on building

The camp ran as build stations rather than one long activity, and members rotated through in small groups:

• Model bridges with DPR Construction: members measured, marked, cut, and assembled their own spans, then found out where a bridge gives way and why.
• Mousetrap cars with Crusoe: members built small vehicles driven by a single spring-loaded trap, a first lesson in stored energy, friction, and the value of a second attempt.
• Drone pads with PCL: members built the landing platforms that survey drones lift off from and return to, the same drones that fly the Abilene campus to document how much has gone up since last week.
• 3D modeling: members stepped inside a digital model of the Abilene data center, past the walls to the equipment, and saw what fills a finished building and how the pieces work together.

Every group went home with what they made.

The volunteers guiding them were engineers, and many were summer interns - closer in age to the campers than to the superintendents, and only a few years past their own first look at the field. Between them, DPR and Crusoe brought 40 to 50 volunteers each day, enough that no child waited long for help with a measurement. For most members, it was a first look at how the structures rising around Abilene actually come together.

Coordinating Crusoe's participation was Erica Hall, the company's community engagement liaison and an Abilene native.

“Giving back to the Abilene community in such a tangible way is meaningful to our team. By bringing technology and construction together, we hope to spark curiosity about the rewarding careers waiting for these young people in fast-growing fields. It’s all about showing them what they’re capable of building.”|Erica Hall|Community Engagement Liaison, Crusoe

A partnership rooted in Abilene

Crusoe and DPR Construction are building Crusoe's AI data center campus in Abilene together - one of the largest active construction projects in the country and a significant source of local employment. The camp put those same crews in a room with kids who are growing up alongside the project, watching it rise a few miles from home.

The camp itself was held at the Club's facility rather than on the campus. A site that size runs on site-specific safety training and controlled access, so the crews came to the kids instead, bringing the tools, the materials, and the work into a room the members already knew.

“We are incredibly thankful to Crusoe and DPR Construction for partnering with the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene to provide this exciting two-day Construction Camp for our members. Opportunities like this help expand our kids’ horizons and show them the many pathways available for a successful future. We can’t wait to see the impact this experience will have on our members.”|Kathi Masonheimer|CEO, Boys & Girls Club of Abilene

Supporting the local community

Abilene is where Crusoe builds, and it is also where a few hundred kids spend their afternoons. Ten hours with a tape measure will not decide anyone's career, but it can put a possibility on the table that was not there before - a trade, an engineering program, a job that exists in their own town. Crusoe and DPR will keep showing up for the Boys & Girls Club in the months ahead.

Thank you to the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene for opening their doors, to DPR Construction for three years of running this camp, and to every volunteer who spent a workday holding a board steady.