The Enko team is a tight-knit group: we work hard and we love to celebrate that hard work. 2022 brought many opportunities for us to gather in person again – both for day-to-day work and special team moments. As the year wraps up, we’re looking back on some of our favorites and what’s in store for 2023!

Bringing out our competitive and creative spirits

In July, we hosted an elementary school throwback with a company-wide field day on the lawn of our Mystic headquarters. The team put their game faces on for potato sack races and egg-and-spoon runs before finishing the day with a cookout. The event was a hit, and we’re already planning next year’s edition!

In the fall, we gathered for Halloween with our families to show off our best costumes and delicious treats – featuring some seriously eerie weeds & plant diseases! 

One of our favorite gatherings was the holiday party, where we presented the second annual Enkies Awards—a nod to The Office’s “Dundies”—to celebrate our team members’ outstanding work. Honorees included Rookie of the Year, the Got Your Back Award (an Enkonaut who always supports their colleagues) and the Geeking Out Award (an Enkonaut who bursts with passion about their work). 

Our Research Assistant Allegra Bargnesi poured her creativity into crafting the prizes for our first-ever Project Team Award: light-up E’s filled with seeds we work with. They’ll grace our team’s desks for years to come.

Between these big celebrations, Enkonauts found plenty of other moments to lift each other up. Our weekly all-staff meetings include “spotlight awards” honoring fellow employees’ accomplishments, and regular lunch-and-learns give us the chance to educate each other about our work. Favorite sessions from 2022 included Dan Pearson giving a crash course on patents, and Peter Stchur sharing a brush-up on what makes an effective PowerPoint presentation. 
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Staying true to our roots

Our work at Enko is all about growing healthy plants. We put this into action at our headquarters this summer by tending a community garden outside our greenhouses. The tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and other veggies we cultivated ended up in our kitchen, where we enjoyed them together at lunchtime and took them home to make fresh dishes. 

We also embraced our commitment to sustainability by spending Earth Day cleaning up Bluff Point State Park.

What’s ahead 

This week, we’re closing out the year with a bang: ugly holiday sweater day, a hot cocoa bar, cookie swaps and a big donation of gifts to the local Salvation Army. In 2023, we’ll revisit newfound traditions including Field Day and the Enkies while making room for surprises, new experiences and lots of memories. Thank you, Enkonauts, for a joyful and supportive year!

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