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science ambassadors
This article originally appeared in the Lamp, 2007 — Number 1
Throughout America, you'll find ExxonMobil employees going back to school. This time to teach.
On any given school day across the United States, ExxonMobil employees pack up large kits that contain things like rocks, plastic piping and beakers with colored water.
They leave their offices and labs and, for part of their day, go back to school, where they talk to wide-eyed children and teenagers about what they do at work. They talk to them about rocks and about what different rocks say about the formation of the earth.
They talk about how oil is formed in the ground and the techniques they use in their jobs to get that oil out of the ground and to market. They conduct experiments using chemicals that bubble, and they talk about the chemical bonds that create putty.
This Science Ambassador Program, one of many volunteer efforts sponsored by ExxonMobil, currently involves more than 600 company employees and retirees who go into schools to serve as tutors, judge science fairs and act as mentors and guest teachers.
The company provides these volunteers with educational kits and a set curriculum designed in collaboration with Scholastic, the world's largest educational publishing company. It also provides grants, through the ExxonMobil Foundation, for schools where employees volunteer.
The program emphasizes science, math and energy education, which is a good fit for the company's employees and retirees, addresses a pressing national need and is in keeping with the foundation's focus.
A crisis in education
Gerald McElvy, president of ExxonMobil Foundation, puts it this way: "The country is experiencing a crisis in science and math education, and ExxonMobil can help. We're a technology-based company that includes large numbers of scientists and engineers. Our foundation supports educational efforts, particularly in math and science. And as a company, we support the communities where we live. So it all ties together perfectly."
"The kids love it, and the employees love it. It's a very successful program," he says.
Pam Scott, the director of Education Partnerships with the Cypress-Fairbanks School District, the third-largest school district in Texas, agrees.
"ExxonMobil employees are doing an outstanding job in our schools," she says. "The company is truly vested in the education of our children. You can see it and feel it. When an adult takes the time to walk into the classroom, the students feel important — particularly when that person is an expert in his or her field, like the professionals from ExxonMobil. That's so huge for a student."
A benefit to the company
The program got its unofficial start at ExxonMobil Chemical Company, in Houston, where a group of employees decided to get involved in their local schools, says Bruce Macklin, vice president of global operations. Macklin is also a management sponsor of the program, which means that he recruits employees and ensures that their activities are completely supported.
"It worked so well," Macklin says, "that the corporation decided to support it as a longterm program. Now, not only does it help the students in a meaningful and vital way, it's also good for the company itself. We have now, and will continue to have in the future, a real need at ExxonMobil for people educated in science and math. So there's a component of this program that benefits the company and our shareholders.
"But it's also an important part of what we do as a company," he adds. "We engage the whole community."
From all walks of life
The Science Ambassadors are scientists and engineers and communications professionals and computer technicians. They are young and not so young. They are new to their jobs at ExxonMobil, spouses or retired after long careers. They come from all walks of life. Each will bring a unique life experience to the classroom, and each will have a personal reason for investing time in the schools.
Katy Sementelli, for instance, a geoscientist for the company who volunteers at an inner-city school in Houston, says that one of the reasons she's so heavily involved is to encourage students in ways that she wasn't.
"I always knew that I liked science and math, and I was good at it," she says. "But I was never told there were opportunities in the field for me. I had to find that out on my own."
She loves all of what she does in the schools, but she's particularly interested in showing the young women she works with that they, too, can be scientists. "When I see that spark in a girl's eye, I just really want her to know that she should keep that spark, and that it's fun to get dirty and work with rocks."
Alvero Casas Jr., who is a safety engineer for ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery in Texas, says that he works in a school primarily composed of minority students. And he does so because he wants those students to know that there are jobs in the sciences for them, just as there were for him.
"My parents weren't college-educated," he says. "They had no idea what opportunities there were for someone like me. It was my teachers who spurred me and helped me along. I want to give those students some of what my teachers gave me. I want them to know that there are opportunities for people of all backgrounds to excel in science."
Science Ambassadors may all have slightly different underlying motivations, but ask any of them, and they'll tell you that when they go into the schools, they get more than they give.
Daleno Johnson, a computer technician with the company, is a former teacher of computer science. Now, by working with children, he gets the best of both worlds.
"I always loved teaching," he says. "And now, the school benefits and I benefit, because I get to work with kids. Teaching and passing on knowledge is one of the best feelings in the world. It's one of the best things you could ever do."
