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pre-college education
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson gives U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings a brief lesson on the science of putting at the 2007 Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy in Fairfax Virginia.
Improving educational programs worldwide to enhance math and science skills is a priority issue for ExxonMobil. In 2007, worldwide contributions in support of this goal totaled more than $27.2 million
, with more than $7.8 million benefiting communities outside of the United States.
Excellence in math and science education is directly correlated to the United States ability to successfully compete and prosper in the global economy and marketplace. The performance of U.S. students in math and science is lagging that of other industrialized nations, and this bodes poorly for future competitiveness and prosperity. To reverse this trend, ExxonMobil is investing in strategic math and science education programs. We support initiatives that encourage students to take an active interest in careers in science and math fields, support the education and professional development of highly qualified teachers, and promote involvement of women and minorities in these subjects.
In 2007, ExxonMobil became the founding sponsor of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) and committed $125 million to support this initiative. NMSI is a non-profit organization that facilitates the national scale-up of proven programs that improve math and science education. NMSI's initial focus in on scaling up two programs: The Advanced Placement and Pre-Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Programs, and the UTeach program which graduates degreed math and science teachers. Through a partnership with former astronaut Bernard Harris, 19 universities hosted more than 900 middle school students to attend an ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp. ExxonMobil contributed $2 million for this two-week residential summer science camp which inspires students to learn.
ExxonMobil’s educational support targets the specific needs of individual countries. In the developing world, our support for education is focused on meeting basic education needs — often in countries where education is not easily accessible to all. Through our Educating Women and Girls Initiative in Angola, we worked with Save the Children USA, Africare and local communities to construct and furnish safe community schools and classrooms in Kwanza Sul Province.
