Indorama Ventures and the Beaumont Children's Museum presented checks to multiple local school districts to promote STEAM learning and aim to teach local youth about recycling.
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Indorama Ventures and Beaumont Children's Museum present Nederland ISD Superintendent Dr. Stuart Kieschnick with a $54k check for STEAM education. -
Indorama and BCM present Bridge City ISD with $31,000 for STEAM education. -
Indorama and BCM present Port Neches-Groves ISD with a check for $57,000 for STEAM education.
Indorama Ventures and the Beaumont Children's Museum (BCM) recently partnered to elevate education at several local school districts, donating more than $150,000 to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) initiatives and promoting recycling and sustainability literacy.
Kim Hoyt, site manager for Indorama Ventures Oxides Port Neches Operations, said her company values STEAM education and champions sustainability efforts in the community. After a super successful summer fundraiser, said Hoyt, it was no surprise that Indorama decided to invest in the education of the future workforce and to teach students how to live more sustainably through environmental stewardship efforts, like recycling.
“This is the first public display of dispensing funds from the Fish-O-Rama tournament. We partnered with the Beaumont Children’s Museum for our inaugural fundraising golf tournament, and we made a lot of money that we were able to put back into the community,” said Hoyt at a check presentation on Nov. 8. “We knew the theme of what we wanted to do, but it took a little time to decide where we wanted to go.”
The announcement of the Fish-O-Rama tournament made clear the company and partner BCM’s shared goal: “The funds raised from this tournament will be used to enhance sustainability through recycling and STEAM education programs in the many school districts where our employees’ families are enrolled,” described a flyer prior to the July 30 event. Ultimately, 170 fishing teams participated in the golf tournament and over 1,000 guests attended the Captains’ Dinner, raising over $450,000 for future community endeavors, including the recent donations.
“We found these really great opportunities to invest money into Nederland ISD, Port Neches-Groves ISD and Bridge City ISD,” Hoyt said. “We're going to support all third and fourth-grade students at each one of those school districts. This morning, we’re starting with Nederland.
“We wanted to raise money for STEAM education, and today is National STEAM Day, so we’re celebrating. It works out beautifully!”
“We’re very excited! This gives us the opportunity to kick into supporting Region 5 schools and, for the future, really putting together a plan to impact other districts,” said BCM Executive Director Amanda Yarbrough at a Nov. 8 check presentation. “Our name may have Beaumont in it, but we actually serve several counties in the Southeast Texas region, so we make sure that our arms reach far and wide to help the communities that we serve. This is just one of those great partnerships that we have that help us do that.
“Indorama and BCM are really focused on similar things that we want to enhance in the community, and that makes this partnership so fantastic! Our focus is STEAM education and recycling fits right in with that.”
Yarbrough said BCM is planning to use a portion of the funds raised at the tournament to build an interactive, educational recycling exhibit at their home base, located at the Beaumont Civic Center, 701 Main St. in Beaumont.
“We want to introduce parents and young children to recycling, and we’re working on how to grow that initiative,” she said. “We have a couple of ideas in the works on getting recycling into our communities, because we don’t really do much recycling in the area – and we should!”
“Sustainability is very important to Indorama, and we have a corporate-level goal to teach 1 million people globally about recycling by 2030,” Hoyt added. “We want to get students thinking about recycling at a young age, so they develop good habits.”
Kicking off the National STEAM Day celebration, Yarbrough joined Hoyt and an Indorama team Nov. 8 at Nederland ISD’s Central Middle School Library, where school staff, administrators and members of the Nederland Chamber of Commerce gathered for November Networking Coffee. Hoyt and crew presented Nederland ISD Superintendent Dr. Stuart Kieschnick a $54,000 check for STEAM educational tools, like Consumable Kits, Hands-On Kits and Tool Kits for STEMscopes curriculum available to local teachers.
Dr. Kieschnick said his district is grateful for the substantial donation. He said the funds would help develop the district’s ongoing STEAM programs for third and fourth grade students, and provide much-needed components for hands-on learning opportunities.
“We have STEAM curriculum for third and fourth-graders, but we don’t have the kits, the hands-on part that goes along with it,” he described. “Indorama and the Beaumont Children’s Museum were kind enough to use some of their funds for STEAM to donate those to us, so my kids could get the hands-on activities to go with the lessons.”
He added that educating students about recycling is imperative in preserving the future.
“Teaching students how to protect the world is very important,” he said. “If they don’t know how to protect the world, how can they do it? Of course, we use resources, but we also have to protect our resources. There’s a fine line, and we need to help kids understand both sides of it.”
Following the check presentation at Nederland ISD, Yarbrough, Hoyt and company traveled to Port-Neches Groves ISD, presenting them with a check for $57,000, and then on to Bridge City ISD, where they handed over $31,000 for STEAM education.
Learn more about Indorama Ventures online at www.indoramaventures.com.
Learn more about the Beaumont Children’s Museum online at www.beaumontchildrensmuseum.org and follow it on social media.