DALLAS, TX, August 15th, 2002 -- Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control recently won the "Corporate Growth Award" for significantly increasing the number of local interns employed through INROADS, a non-profit organization that develops and places minority youth in business and industry internships nationwide. Lockheed Martin tripled the number of interns sponsored by the company between 2001 and 2002. The award was one of many given out at INROADS' 21st Annual Awards And Scholarship Reception event held Thursday, August 8, at the Adam's Mark Hotel. More than 13,000 young people have graduated from INROADS summer internships, which include two to five summers of work experience, year-round academic instruction, training and coaching. Corporations supply the career-related work experience, staff involvement (mentors and supervisors) and financial support. During the past five years, eight of ten interns graduating from the INROADS program have accepted full-time employment from their corporate sponsors.

John F. Key, Jr., procurement section manager at Missiles and Fire Control, serves on INROADS' Board of Directors, and was pleasantly surprised by the award's announcement. "Awards such as Corporate Growth are based on statistics, we were not aware that we had won until it was announced at the banquet. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the INROADS organization, and receiving the Corporate Growth Award was a tremendous honor."

Key went on to say, "Dallas team members were out in force, and one of our interns, Elizabeth 'Coco' Martinez, delivered a great speech to the 500 or so people in attendance. She was very complimentary about her intern experience. The three interns who worked here with us at Lockheed Martin, Elizabeth Martinez, Jesse Torres and Barnabas Willis, all contributed to a successful Summer 2002 Program."

INROADS was founded in Chicago in 1970 with 25 student interns and 17 corporate partners, and has grown to 52 affiliates, more than 7,500 high school and college students, and over 950 corporate partners in 38 states, the District of Columbia; Mexico City, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; and South Africa. The organization has been selected by the Princeton Review as one of "America's Top 10 Internships" for the past eight years. Minority students must qualify with 3.0 or better grade averages, and complete their job assignments to the client's satisfaction, as well as remaining in good academic standing and participating in INROADS training and coaching. They must set goals for: career, education, social development and community service. For more on INROADS, see http://www.inroads.org.

Community service is an integral part of the Active Citizenship drive at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.