SME CARES
Creating positive,
sustainable change in
our community.
SME is passionate about working together to help others and improve the communities where we live and work.
Through community service, strategic partnerships and community investment, we aim to create positive, sustainable change. By giving our resources and ourselves, we build stronger communities. The SME CARES team creates, manages, and implements community revitalization programs. The program works toward the betterment of community and team building while also helping revitalize communities. SME CARES promotes compassion, accountability, respect, empathy, safety and security.
Volunteer Workforce
Our volunteer workforce is an extension of our selfless service and teamwork core values into communities in our Great Lakes area. Volunteer activities include yard clean up, house repair, food preparation and delivery, road clean ups, and many more ways to improve our Great Lake communities. We enjoy partnering with nonprofit organizations, clients, partners and community residents. The relationship building during these events helps bring our communities and teams closer together and enhances the fun.
Starr D. Kohn Memorial Scholarship Fund
Annually, SME organizes a golf tournament to fund a scholarship in memory of a long-time SME pavement engineer, Starr Kohn, PhD, PE, who passed away suddenly in January, 2009. Starr began his career at SME in 1978 and, along with the great team he built in our Pavement Services group, helped advance pavement research and technologies throughout the Great Lakes region, nationally and internationally. For over 30 years, he was dedicated to his passion, pavement engineering excellence. This year we held our 13th annual golf outing in memory of Starr.
Gail M. Barton Memorial Scholarship
The Gail M. Barton Memorial Scholarship program has been established in recognition of Gail Barton who served as SME’s Collections Manager with resolve and a keen sense of professionalism for over 22 years; from 1989 to 2011. Gail was a trusted friend and mentor to those with whom she worked at SME. More important, she was a devoted wife and mother. SME is pleased to sponsor two (2) annual scholarships to children of SME staff attending college, in honor of Gail Barton — a woman who believed in the value of a college education and who exemplified and lived SME’s values every day, with dignity, grace and unfaltering hope.
Kenneth W. Kramer Scholarship Fund
SME also established a scholarship through the Community Foundation of Plymouth in the name of our founder, Kenneth W. Kramer, PE to support local students who want to pursue studies in Civil Engineering from a Michigan ABET accredited university.