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On this episode of the Plastics & Beyond Podcast, Lilian Judy hosts Evan Morton, Programs and Sustainability Coordinator, SPE Foundation, live at ANTEC® 2022. They discuss the importance of introducing students to STEM and plastics engineering opportunities in middle and high schools, the challenges that students with diverse backgrounds face in pursuing STEM careers and the vital role that it plays for students to see people like themselves in scientific careers.
The Plastics and Beyond Podcast is an SPE-sponsored podcast hosted by Lilian Judy that is curated to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion in the manufacturing industry.
This Podcast is designed to provide in-depth conversations around inclusion in the plastics industry, while exploring the trials, tribulations and discrimination underrepresented groups have had to overcome and are still facing. With the aim to empower and recognize underrepresented groups, our philosophy is to envision an inclusive world and take action to make the world a better place.
If you’re aiming to take the next step, listen to discover a new plastically inclusive perspective today. Tune in every month for new DEI-verse conversations.
00;00;04;04 - 00;00;19;25
Lilian Judy
Welcome to the Plastics and Beyond Podcast, an SPE-sponsored podcast supporting a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. I'm your host, Lilian Judy, and I invite you to join me every month for new, diverse conversations.
00;00;23;18 - 00;00;40;27
Lilian Judy
Welcome to the Plastics and Beyond Podcast. My name is Lilian Judy and we're live here at ANTEC® 2022. I have with me Evan Morton and today, which is going to have a very casual conversation, so a bit on diversity, equity and inclusion in the plastics industry. So hi, Evan! How are you doing today?
00;00;41;01 - 00;00;43;03
Evan Morton
I am doing great. Thank you for having me on the show.
00;00;43;03 - 00;00;50;23
Lilian Judy
Thank you for coming. Let’s just start off by having you introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about your background. I just want to learn everything about you.
00;00;50;29 - 00;01;18;17
Evan Morton
All right. Well, hello, world. My name is Evan. I’m from Detroit, Michigan. And I work for the Society of Plastic Engineers as their program and sustainability coordinator. So I've been in the position just about a year now, but before that I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in community sustainability. So being able to interact around people, and again diverse people, whether that be young or old, professional, just starting.
00;01;18;17 - 00;01;45;27
Evan Morton
I love every aspect of it, which is why, what my position, because I'm able to teach and I'm able to see a smile on students’ faces when they either understand something or they don't. So that's a little bit of my background. I had that when I was a kid, being able to grow up and be working young and, you know, have experiments and have research and now to be able to transcribe it and see it from a different angle of now I'm the one that's teaching the kids instead of me being taught.
00;01;45;27 - 00;01;47;27
Evan Morton
It's just a full circle experience.
00;01;47;27 - 00;01;48;03
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;01;48;10 - 00;01;51;15
Lilian Judy
So did you always want to work in STEM?
00;01;52;16 - 00;01;53;22
Evan Morton
Um, actually, yeah.
00;01;53;29 - 00;01;54;12
Lilian Judy
Okay.
00;01;54;12 - 00;02;15;05
Evan Morton
So I always did want to work in STEM, because they were two passions of mine. One was STEM and also one was teaching. So being able to first do research when I was a kid, I was part of a program called Ecotech in Detroit. Ecotech is a science research laboratory based in TechTown for young inventors, and I was introduced in that program in sixth grade.
00;02;15;17 - 00;02;35;16
Evan Morton
Mr. Young, who's the person now, the CEO of the program, he's been my inspiration since I was young. Every single time you go into the lab, every Saturday, one Saturday we would have off every month, but every Saturday we would go into the lab and we will be working on biofuels, bioplastics, wind turbines, all alternative energy, you can name it.
00;02;35;17 - 00;02;55;06
Evan Morton
That was my specialty. So that's when I knew I mean, especially when I created bioplastic for the first time, and I still can't shut up about it. I loved every aspect of it and that was the first experiment that I've ever done and have that true passion. And now in being in this industry, it's just it's come full circle because now I'm able to talk about it.
00;02;55;20 - 00;03;02;12
Lilian Judy
So would you say that is what shaped you into loving STEM? Or working in STEM?
00;03;02;26 - 00;03;13;08
Evan Morton
Yeah. So it really did. It really did shape it because I had that experience at a young age and that's what it's about. If I, if I didn't have that experience at a young age, I don't know if I would have been in STEM.
00;03;13;08 - 00;03;13;22
Lilian Judy
Exactly.
00;03;13;22 - 00;03;14;05
Evan Morton
You know.
00;03;14;10 - 00;03;31;16
Lilian Judy
And now there are a lot of people of color who don't have representation, who don't have access to education, who grow up, not seeing people who look like them in the STEM field. So what was your growing up experience like?
00;03;32;13 - 00;03;54;08
Evan Morton
So my growing up experience in Detroit was that I did see a lot of again, people that look like me because that was my community and that's where I was born and raised. But at the same time it was the access opportunity, that was where I think the issue was because we had different angles and being from Detroit, there are disparities that go on within our community that we don't necessarily get help with.
00;03;54;08 - 00;04;12;16
Evan Morton
So it could be and I ran into situations like this before, to where a student who's so bright, they have the world on their shoulders and they can really go for it. But at that same aspect, they have to provide for their family and they have to work after school, you know, work at McDonalds or working, go get a job.
00;04;12;25 - 00;04;39;01
Evan Morton
And so it's, it's that support system of like, we need new ways and new angles for kids to be able to express themselves not by working, but by putting their ideals into a passion or a research that can take them far. And that's where that understanding came from. Again, if I didn't have it just like the other students that were in the program, if they didn't have it, who knows where we would have been?
00;04;39;02 - 00;05;04;28
Lilian Judy
Yeah, and I think it all boils down to opportunity, because I think there are a lot of students who are there, who are, who want to learn and who want to go into the STEM field but do not have the opportunity. So if you can go back to the younger Evan, what do you think are some of the things that he would have wanted to have growing up that would have probably been pushed faster and higher in his educational journey?
00;05;05;29 - 00;05;25;26
Evan Morton
I mean, the number one thing, and this is why I'm also grateful to my school, is I needed to see more people that looked like me. That's what I wish I would have saw and not even just wish, that's what I'm trying to change right now because again, we're, we're both, you know, black and being, you were, outside of the United States.
00;05;25;26 - 00;05;26;23
Lilian Judy
Yeah, I. grew up in Ghana.
00;05;27;00 - 00;05;49;00
Evan Morton
And I was inside and we both have two separate experiences, but at the same time it's similar. Similar experiences in the way that we're coming up and cultivating ways to be able to help a community. So in that aspect, it's about being able to reach out. If I was younger, you know, and I can go back, I want to be able to have more confidence in myself that I can do this.
00;05;49;00 - 00;06;14;04
Evan Morton
I was built for this. If I could tell one kid, one student, each day, you're made for this, you can do it. Believe in yourself. If I tell the student that they can believe it, they don't have to. But if I'm working with students every single day and you're seeing my face, I'm seeing yours. Oh, I don't know if, I don't know if anybody broke it down to them to let you know that you matter.
00;06;14;04 - 00;06;14;14
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;06;14;14 - 00;06;16;22
Evan Morton
You're important, and you deserve to be here.
00;06;16;22 - 00;06;17;06
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;06;17;06 - 00;06;25;29
Evan Morton
And whatever dream that you want to follow, I'm not going to hold you back. Don't let the person on the left or the right hold you back. Just keep looking forward.
00;06;25;29 - 00;06;27;06
Evan Morton
Like that's.
00;06;27;06 - 00;06;51;08
Lilian Judy
I'm inspired. Honestly, I'm so inspired. But do you feel the responsibility falls on? Do you feel some kind of pressure to have to give back to your community because you are one of the few people of color who have risen to the occasion, who have been able to, you know, get a good education. And now you're in a position where you can work, you can do the things that you love.
00;06;51;15 - 00;07;00;09
Lilian Judy
Do you feel pressured to have to go back and, you know, give back to those who don't have? Do you think that’s something that just comes innately within you.
00;07;01;01 - 00;07;25;29
Evan Morton
So, I’d say it comes innately within me because I, being from the city, being from Detroit and being able to really see the disparities that go on, and especially when we're talking about racial disparities, environmental injustices, seeing all that happen in Detroit and even on news stations where it's public, you hear it on the radio, you hear it on, again, local news, national news.
00;07;25;29 - 00;07;40;21
Evan Morton
Detroit is always being talked about in negative connotations. And so that aspect of my people aren't defeated. And I for me, my personal mission is, I want to show them that we're not defeated.
00;07;40;21 - 00;07;41;16
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;07;41;16 - 00;07;46;01
Evan Morton
So that's, I completely, with everything that we've been talking about, I completely agree.
00;07;46;07 - 00;07;46;15
Lilian Judy
Uh huh.
00;07;46;27 - 00;07;53;04
Evan Morton
It's, it's not necessarily, necessarily a pressure. It's just more of a, it's a great challenge.
00;07;53;04 - 00;08;25;02
Lilian Judy
Yeah. And I would love to agree with you, but I do feel like there's pressure on me to have to give back. Even though I do want to willingly. I feel like there is pressure on me because I'm someone that came from Ghana and so my experience is very different from anyone else's. But then I also have to take into consideration the fact that there's so many people who don't have access to the education and the experience that I've had coming to America.
00;08;25;02 - 00;08;56;29
Lilian Judy
And so I feel like I should, you know, kind of pull someone up. But then again, I think that pressure then builds within me a lot of resilience and it pushes me even farther. Now I work in, on social media, I promote a lot of diversity in Women in STEM and I have had so many young girls come up to me and tell me, Wow, seeing you, seeing someone who looks like me in this space is what pushed me to keep going in college, to keep going in high school.
00;08;57;07 - 00;09;12;00
Lilian Judy
And I think that representation is key. And I do my best to show myself wherever I go, where I end up, you know. But then do you get that feedback from the kids that you work with?
00;09;12;25 - 00;09;33;17
Evan Morton
Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned it like that. In the in the form of pressure, I completely am with you. I feel pressure from, again, the black community as far as I just graduated and I have my whole life ahead of me to be able to create this plan. But I can't give it right now because I'm not in a position to.
00;09;33;17 - 00;09;47;09
Evan Morton
So when we again, 30 years down the line, I hope that I can give so much more to Detroit, but for right now, I'm with you. Yeah, I can't necessarily give to my fullest capacity or the way that I want to because I'm, I'm just starting out.
00;09;47;09 - 00;09;48;08
Lilian Judy
Yeah. You can only do so much.
00;09;48;16 - 00;09;53;15
Evan Morton
It’s my third day out here.
00;09;53;15 - 00;09;58;15
Evan Morton
For the student question. I'm sorry, may you ask the question again.
00;09;58;15 - 00;10;10;22
Lilian Judy
Yeah. So I'm saying I get a lot of feedback from a lot of young black girls who see me in social media, putting myself out there, sharing my story and encouraging them. What are some of the feedback that you get from the young students that you work with?
00;10;11;06 - 00;10;31;04
Evan Morton
Yeah, so we, the school that I previously worked with this past year at Detroit Public School Academy. That's where I went to school. And so being able to work with those students, first, it was a, they already knew, they knew who I was because the, you know, I have a picture on the wall and all that good stuff, but at the same time, you don't know who I am.
00;10;32;07 - 00;10;33;17
Evan Morton
I'm Mr. Morton.
00;10;33;18 - 00;10;34;00
Lilian Judy
Mm hmm.
00;10;34;05 - 00;10;36;29
Evan Morton
And at the same retrospect, I'm here to make sure you advance.
00;10;36;29 - 00;10;37;26
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;10;37;26 - 00;10;56;14
Evan Morton
So it was that dichotomy of, again, you know, I'm the alumni coming back. And as we have that understanding and as we start to go more and involved into the program, you can see like these students faces change, like the first day. No, Mr. Morton, I don't think I can do this experiment.
00;10;56;21 - 00;11;00;09
Evan Morton
So now we're halfway through the program, and I don't even have to tell you to get a beaker.
00;11;00;09 - 00;11;18;27
Lilian Judy
Yeah, okay. So you see the physical. You get the physical feedback and I love that. I want to kind of touch a bit on this. When you were growing up, did you feel like you had the push from your community to keep striving forward, to keep reaching for the stars.
00;11;19;07 - 00;11;43;24
Evan Morton
So I would say and this doesn't go for everybody, but yeah, I was lucky enough to have a support system that allowed me to see things in myself that I didn't believe myself. And I think that's just for that point. I think that's a major issue, of nobody tells you what you can do and they don't push you to go towards something.
00;11;43;24 - 00;11;44;29
Evan Morton
So you become stagnant.
00;11;44;29 - 00;11;45;17
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;11;45;17 - 00;11;48;06
Evan Morton
And that's that point, right?
00;11;48;06 - 00;11;49;11
Lilian Judy
Yes.
00;11;49;11 - 00;12;00;17
Evan Morton
Just like what you were saying before when we're talking about having conversations and how do we bring up conversations? How do we bring more people into this space? And again, sorry if I'm rambling.
00;12;01;00 - 00;12;27;05
Lilian Judy
But that's why mentorship comes in. Yeah, there's a lot of people mentoring younger, younger kids, young, black and brown boys and girls, and it's like they are mentoring them from experience. And so having a mentor tell me that, you know, I can do it even though I'm not getting the support from home, that then feels like that, you know, I mean, and I think that the current state of the plastics industry with regards to diversity and inclusion?
00;12;27;05 - 00;12;37;27
Lilian Judy
What do we think about that. Because I see, maybe my perspective may be different from yours, but I would love to hear from a young black man in the industry.
00;12;38;29 - 00;12;53;22
Evan Morton
So I am optimistic. I would say, yeah, I would love to see change, and that's what I need to do. And that's my mission of our diversity is lacking and I'm not going to lie, it is lacking.
00;12;53;23 - 00;12;54;02
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;12;54;24 - 00;13;24;25
Evan Morton
It really is. Yeah. But, but that's where I also see the opportunity for me and especially like me and you to be able to work, collaborate and bring more people into this space of having conversations, bringing college students down, bringing students who are doing research, and again, black students who are doing research, having them be exposed. This is how we can start to have more diversity within this space of what's, a closed mouth doesn't get fed, right?
00;13;25;12 - 00;13;54;17
Evan Morton
But at the same time, I believe that a closed mouth doesn't get fed. But if that mouth doesn't know how to open, that's the issue, like, and that's the thing. We need to open these students up to opportunities like, like what we're doing here at ANTEC®. So that way their mouth is open. Now they just need to go to different companies and different stations and gather each business card and make connections.
00;13;54;17 - 00;14;17;13
Lilian Judy
Yeah. And you and I have talked about this and we have touched on how it's important to start very young, to start from the middle schools, to start from the high schools. That's why the work that you do with the Foundation is also really important. But I think that it goes beyond that. Yes, we reach them at the younger level, but then we also need to develop more skills at the higher level as well.
00;14;17;13 - 00;14;41;07
Lilian Judy
And so what we do with regards to even getting more people, ionto plastics engineering, like for me for example, I feel like I need to wing it, it needs to be put out there more, like people don't even know that we exist, we've talked about it. It's a very closed community and I think that even opening it up to other people is key as well.
00;14;41;16 - 00;14;57;24
Lilian Judy
Now to round it up, I want to talk about the work that you do with SPE. How has that positively impacted you and how has that even, you know, put a few more things on your checklist? Like what are some things that you realized about yourself, having started working here straight out of school.
00;14;59;25 - 00;15;21;26
Evan Morton
Well, aside from using my first paycheck to buy my car, thanks, SPE, aside from that, what I really learned is that I can do this. It was, It's that saying I was built for this and I didn't believe it at first. You know what I mean? It's in my life I've been through so many hardships and transgressions on my own personal scale.
00;15;21;26 - 00;15;23;10
Evan Morton
I can't measure it to anybody else.
00;15;23;10 - 00;15;23;18
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;15;24;06 - 00;15;27;22
Evan Morton
But in that same aspect, I wouldn't want anybody else to go through what I went through.
00;15;27;22 - 00;15;28;09
Lilian Judy
Yeah.
00;15;28;09 - 00;15;49;02
Evan Morton
And so now that I'm in this position to be able to again talk to people, have conversations, meet professionals and teach students, being in that headspace has really allowed me to mature. It really allowed me to see the world for what it was and how can I interact with them. And on the other note, it also just allowed me and my friends to think more positively.
00;15;49;02 - 00;16;09;26
Evan Morton
Yeah, you know, all of us coming out of college, all of us being successful and having jobs, it's all about that community, right? So my success in SPE is also equitable to my success with my friends because you need a support system and you need a circle. So when I when, you know, we talk about personal growth and you know, advancement and everything.
00;16;09;26 - 00;16;17;16
Evan Morton
SPE has helped so much as far as traveling, teaching, everything, but it's also very important to have that circle.
00;16;17;16 - 00;16;39;20
Lilian Judy
Yeah, and I think that your circle represents, it reflects what you do. And for me, unfortunately, I've had conversations with people about this, where my circle most of the time is filled with people that look like me. Right. And I think that that that's one layer that we need to break -- just keeping the same kind of people within our circles.
00;16;39;20 - 00;17;02;02
Lilian Judy
I feel like we need to, you know, step out of our comfort zone most of the time. And that's why even in doing this podcast, I may look on the outside like I’m so brave, and I, you know, I'm having all these crazy conversations, but the truth is, I'm scared inside, you know, but I know that I'm doing this for the greater good and I like to share this part of my story a lot because I think it does help.
00;17;02;02 - 00;17;24;15
Lilian Judy
It does draw people in more, like my school journey was my four years long, it was eight years long, and I ended up graduating four years after my high school class had graduated. That is very humiliating. That is very, I was ashamed. And there's so many emotions that go with that. But I think that everybody goes through tough times, tough seasons.
00;17;24;15 - 00;17;36;21
Lilian Judy
But that is what strengthens you up. Do you have anything that you would be willing to share that you think has been foundational in forming who really are?
00;17;36;21 - 00;17;53;04
Evan Morton
Yes, and I'm just going to say it. Back in 2016 when I was at Michigan State University, I was a junior. I didn't have, I’m not going to lie, I didn't have the best grades at all. So for that, I had to take an academic leave from Michigan State University.
00;17;53;04 - 00;18;19;04
Evan Morton
And at that moment it was the, I lived in a house co-op and it was either I can go home, and in my fact I was a defeated go home, I could go home or I could stay here and try to do something to get back. And within that year that was the most transformational year I've ever had. And again, you know, future doesn’t know what it beholds, but it was very, it was just that was the pressing point.
00;18;19;05 - 00;18;40;25
Evan Morton
And that was because I worked for the student housing cooperative, which is where I lived. I created their first sustainability internship. And from that moment creating that, it was okay, I'm actually doing sustainability, not learning about it. And then I was able to do SHROP for that summer, Summer Opportunity Research Program at Michigan State University. And I wasn't even a student.
00;18;41;06 - 00;18;59;20
Evan Morton
Sorry, Steven, and I wasn't a student. And then after that, working for Clean Water Action, going door to door. And I'll share this as why I really wanted to get back into school and why I found my passion. When I was going door to door, I loved it. But I also had a gun pulled to my face.
00;19;00;12 - 00;19;18;25
Evan Morton
So with that I was enjoying it. But I also I had that real life realization of, Wow, I don't think I'm loving what I do, but I need to get back in school so I can truly get a job and get a degree. So.
00;19;18;25 - 00;19;37;18
Lilian Judy
And that’s real. Thank you for sharing that. That's really real. And I think that, you know, we talk and we try to promote diversity, but then people are going through real things in their lives. And sometimes you may not feel relatable, like someone can see you all dressed up in a nice suit and they may feel like, I don't have that.
00;19;37;18 - 00;20;04;09
Lilian Judy
You know, this person doesn't look like me. This person is not a true representative of who I am. And I think that in sharing transparent stories like this, you get to reach the people that you know and wouldn’t reach. And I think just to even wrap up, this is the reason why I think having conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion in the plastics industry is so important, primarily to reach the people that you would never reach on a regular day.
00;20;04;09 - 00;20;21;19
Lilian Judy
People who may not have access to the things we have access to. You know, and I just want to thank you, because I think they're doing amazing work. I think you're really using what you have to support a lot more students. So thank you so much. I don't know if you have any last words you want to share.
00;20;21;19 - 00;20;26;14
Lilian Judy
I don't have anything that you would like to share, but I just wanted to end with that.
00;20;26;14 - 00;20;40;03
Evan Morton
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. I hope you all follow and achieve your dreams. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it can be built in a lifetime with the community. And I strongly believe that. Have a great rest of the time and thank you for having me.
00;20;40;08 - 00;20;41;18
Lilian Judy
Thank you so much, Evan.
00;20;41;20 - 00;20;42;06
Evan Morton
Thank you.
00;20;42;07 - 00;20;52;17
Lilian Judy
Well, I hope you learned a thing or two from this episode. And I’ll definitely see you all on the next episode of the Plastics and Beyond podcast.