Reaching out to the chemists of the future

Arkema is reaching out to schools near the company’s plants in France, the United States, and China. The school outreach programs are designed to expose students to a more modern conception of chemistry, spark interest in careers in chemistry, and build ties between our plants and their communities. Most of all, students get to participate in a variety of fun, exciting activities!

 

"Are those big pipes back there with all the smoke dangerous?” When you are ten years old and your schoolyard overlooks a chemical plant, the question is a natural one. And, when you happen to be the manager of the plant in question, answering young people’s queries is the least you can do. Which is why, in 2008, Arkema’s Wujing (Shanghai) hydrogen peroxide plant first opened its doors to students from a neighbouring school in a “Common Ground^®” outreach program.

 

Painting a realistic picture

Groups of around 40 students aged nine to ten have visited the plant on two occasions. They got to see all stages in the production process, visit the control room, and even see fish swimming in the wastewater pond—a sign of good health. “We wanted to give young people a realistic picture of what we do. Our approach is purely educational,” explained Jean-Yves Robin, former plant manager, currently industrial director of our Acrylics BU. After the tour, the children put their perception of the plant down on paper during a drawing contest. The winning pictures were blown up and today decorate the wall surrounding the plant.

 

Teens ask different kinds of questions. At a time when they must begin thinking about career choices, they often do not understand our industry well enough to make pertinent decisions. It is our job to expose them to tomorrow’s careers in chemistry. One way we do this is by sending them on a Mission to Carbon City, a travelling interactive role-play designed by Arkema and Arkema partners from the Axelera chemistry and environment cluster in France’s Rhône-Alpes region. The game was introduced in early 2010 and will visit around a hundred middle schools in four  years. A total of around 30,000 youth aged 12 to 15 will have a chance to discover the game.

 

Investigating tomorrow’s chemistry

Each player spends two hours in Carbon City—as an investigative journalist. Their mission? To learn everything they can about day-to-day life in the future and the chemistry-related challenges that will arise, from recycling a refrigerator at the end of its lifecycle to increasing the amount of chemical substances derived from plants. Players must then write an article for the city newspaper. The “reporters” are allowed to talk to people they meet in Carbon City—at the city dump or at a chemistry lab, for instance—and do research on the Internet before and after the game with the help of their teachers.

 

Arkema Rhône-Alpes Communications Manager Sophie Suc, who is also in charge of the Image, Community Outreach, and Citizenship programme at Axelera, was thrilled with the early issues of Carbon City Mag. “Some students realized just how relevant Rilsan^® has become today,” she said. After visiting Carbon City, 64% of middle school students stated that their perception of the chemical industry had changed. We hope some of them will choose careers in chemistry!

 

Having fun with science

In the United States, Arkema has been active in outreach since 1996 via the Science Teacher Program, whose goal is to get young people interested in science careers—maybe even at Arkema! The program is still going strong today, and trained 72 science teachers in 2009. All participants teach students aged 8 to 12 in schools in communities where Arkema has operations.

 

“Teachers get various theme-based teaching kits on topics like minerals, the human body, and plant growth. However, without training, it is hard to make the best use of these kits,” explained the program’s coordinator Dana Swan, a senior chemist at our King of Prussia, Pennsylvania R&D center. The Science Teacher Program enables teachers to spend a week in our labs working with Arkema engineers and researchers and learning to get the most out of the teaching resources at their disposal. “When teachers go back to school, they also rediscover how much fun it is to teach science,” said Dana. “We really like to emphasize the enjoyment aspect.There’s nothing like an enthusiastic teacher to inspire a classroom full of students.” Through the teachers it has trained, the Science Teacher Program has affected the lives of some 50,000 students since its inception.