Schools and What We Offer
How glass can play a role
By now I assume everyone reading this has heard that the school shooting in Nashville began when the shooter shot through the glass and walked right in. The doors looked like they had typical tempered in it, making it a very easy pass. Obviously this is gutting on so many levels, but from an industry standpoint it’s made worse because we have the solutions, and they are everywhere. I know schools all over have been beefing up and don’t know why this one did not, but it’s obviously time, sadly, that every school should be using the materials we have to secure their setting more thoroughly.
I saw some back and forth on LinkedIn where some took offense to manufacturers noting that materials exist to help repel some of these scenarios. A school superintendent no less. The posts I saw did not have promotional or offending language, they pointed out the weak points and what is available to address. But really at this point, maybe some toes have to be stepped on so people start to do what needs to be done? The plea is this, if you are working on a school job, or you do maintenance for a district, it’s time to note that through many excellent manufacturers we have options for them.
I also appreciate this strong take from the great Tim Widner of Lippert Components.
Elsewhere…
Advocacy Days
This school security subject among many others came up during the National Glass Association’s amazing Glass and Glazing Advocacy Days run through Washington DC this past week. The NGA and some incredible volunteers from member companies met with serious big hitters on the hill and educated them a great deal on what we do, how we do it, and the good we can bring. This is another area where NGA blows me away, they have stepped up into another space to represent us and push harder for our industry. Kudos to everyone involved. Efforts like this will pay off for our world for years to come.
Latest pod
In case you missed it, my latest podcast dropped last week, and I think all three of my guests had messages that really resonated with the listeners/watchers so far. Susan Stone of Ubiquitous Energy has a transformational product and her and her team have really gone deep into our space. Trent Thiry of Global Security Glazing/Isoclima has products that obviously this week proved are needed more than ever, and Brandon Nicastro of GCS Glass delivered in the light of “anything is possible” when you grind and work. That includes running 37 miles through the desert, for fun. Anyway, if you haven’t checked it out yet, please give it a whirl. Thank you!
Watch here or listen here, as well as on Apple, Spotify, Google etc.
AIA Awards
The latest AIA Awards recognized 16 projects for their excellence. Personally, I think my project of the week spotlight is a bigger honor, but this isn’t bad either. Here they are, some had great use of glazing while there were others that were ghastly to me. Check it out and if you were among the folks who worked or supplied on any of these, congrats!
New hires
Guardian Glass added a few new folks to the ranks recently and I like the mix. Katherine Kidd, Sam Ilewski, and Geoff Shellard are the additions, and I am already a fan of Geoff seeing how active he is on LinkedIn. (including some funny comments on a recent Visa project) Love when people are active in a positive way online and pushing what we do and how we do it!
Glass on TV
Last this week, I’m watching the show “The Night Agent” on Netflix. This is a perfect “treadmill” show because its pretty much nonstop action. Been a good watch and plot so far too, but our products did play a big role in episode 2.
While being chased, our hero had to bust out of tempered IG window. That was good to see. But that led him walking on to a canopy that was just heavy tempered and somehow blew up under him. Great time for nickel sulfide issue I guess. Anyway I’ll wait til the great Dr. Kayla Natividad of Pilkington catches this and does her post mortem on LinkedIn to breakdown everything that happened. Regardless, always fun when the glass plays a role, even when wrong, in a show.
