One ball, one town, one team
A childhood home run ball links past and present — and says a lot about the power of community, connections and (Real)ationships at Shell Polymers.
A small-town twist of fate
When Rocco Martini was 11 years old, he hit a home run during a Little League game at his hometown field in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. In keeping with a tradition encouraged by his dad, he wrote his name, jersey number and the year on the ball: Rocco Martini #27 2007.
Nearly two decades later, that ball came back into his life in a most unexpected way.
One of Rocco’s colleagues at Shell Polymers, Brett LaHue, had just moved into a new house near the plant in Monaca. Going through items left behind in the garage, he found a box of old sports memorabilia — Rocco’s baseball included. He recognized the name and brought the ball into work the next day.
“It turns out he moved into my grade school gym teacher’s house, who was also the high school baseball coach at the time,” Rocco says. “I must have given him the ball after the game and told him, ‘I’ll see you in a few years.’”
That ball now sits on Rocco’s desk — a small but powerful reminder of how (Real)ationships define both life and work in this tight-knit Pennsylvania community.
From backyard dreams to big opportunities
Rocco grew up just a few miles from the facility where he works today as a safety specialist. He was a senior in high school when Shell Polymers announced it was moving to Monaca, and he remembers the headline on the front page of the local newspaper — “Shell Yes” — like it was yesterday.
“People were excited, and there was a sense of revival,” he says. “With the decline of steel industry, some local areas were depressed economically. There was newfound hope with Shell’s announcement — the sense that this was what our area needed to grow and thrive.”
After graduating from Central Valley High School, Rocco went on to study safety management at Slippery Rock University, located about an hour upstate. In 2018, he landed an internship at Shell Polymers.
“Getting the opportunity to work for an organization like Shell in my hometown was amazing,” he says. “It was one of the best learning experiences of my life, and it shaped me into the professional I am today.”
Building a career close to home
Today, Rocco works as part of the Monaca facility’s safety team. He and his colleagues assess potential hazards in the workplace and put controls in place to mitigate them.
“Our overall team motto is to have everyone go home the same way they came to work,” Rocco says.
That motto resonates even more in a community like Monaca. For many employees, “home” is just down the road.
From the beginning, Shell Polymers made hiring and developing local talent a priority — employing as many as 8,500 people during peak construction and creating long-term career opportunities for residents who previously had to leave the region for employment.
“A lot of people used to have to travel and leave their families for weeks on end,” Rocco says. “Now, with work right in their backyard, they’re able to get home to their families every day. That’s important in a community like this where families are still close-knit.”
That includes Rocco’s own family. He, his parents and his sister all live within four miles of one another.
Real success, built on (Real)ationships
The sense of closeness doesn’t end at the facility’s property line. It carries over into how Shell Polymers’ team members communicate, collaborate and care for one another every day.
“Relationships from outside the fence line really help support how we work inside the fence line,” Rocco says. “It’s easier to communicate with people, to have care-based conversations, when you already have personal connections with them.”
That familiarity builds trust, making it easier to work together, solve problems and create a safer environment.
“At the end of the day, we’re all real people with real lives,” Rocco says. “The way Shell cares for employees and our proactive safety culture make this site very special and unrivaled.”
And when people feel genuinely supported, it strengthens the entire organization.
“Forging relationships and working together as a team really sets us apart from other companies I see out there,” Rocco says. “We do live our values.”
It just goes to show that you can work for a giant company like Shell, but when you put it in a community like ours, it can still feel like one big family.”
A company and community growing together
Rocco sees those values echoed across the community, resulting in more opportunities for people to build a life close to home.
“With Shell coming in, we’ve seen real infrastructure growth, new businesses and new jobs,” he says. “There’s not just economic benefit but family stability, too.”
But that growth goes both ways. Rocco believes Shell Polymers benefits as much from the community as the community benefits from Shell.
“That community-ship makes our working relationships better and carries over into the quality of the product we deliver to our customers,” he says. “It drives us all to do our jobs better.”
It shapes how Rocco spends his time off the clock, too. He volunteers with several local nonprofits and coaches the varsity football team at his alma mater, Central Valley High School.