Evonik’s Tippecanoe Site Awards $10,000 To Area Educators

Evonik Degussa Corporation’s Tippecanoe Laboratories has awarded 11 grants totaling $10,000 to area educators for the 2012-13 school year under the company’s Partners In Education (PIE) program.

“The Partners In Education teacher grant program has funded more than 347 projects totaling more than $303,000 over the past 17 years to benefit accredited educational institutions in Tippecanoe County,” said Mindy Stinson, Director of Human Resources at Tippecanoe Laboratories.

Approximately 5,000 students and 150 teachers benefit from the PIE program each year.

“The importance of education simply can not be measured,” said Stinson. “One person's education has the ability to impact many lives. Evonik wants to help ensure that every student has a chance to do their very best.”

The world relies on science and innovation, and the leaders of tomorrow are in schools today, said Jana Maxwell, Ph.D., Quality Director of the Tippecanoe site. She noted Evonik offers grants up to $1,000 to help provide students with skills needed for jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math.

“Companies throughout the world will always need scientists and researchers,” she added. “In the years ahead, we're going to be even more dependent on scientists, technologists and engineers so it's very important that students today get a proper education. We want to help further develop some of the best scientific minds of the next generation.”

The PIE awards were presented to:

Dr. Matt J. Carlson, Harrison High School;

Scott Powell, Craig Smiley, Dr. Matt J. Carlson, Harrison High School;

Jody Weber, Burnett Creek Elementary School;

Courtney Solomon, Dayton Elementary School;

Julie Smart, Happy Hollow Elementary School;

Peter von Werder, West Lafayette Jr/Sr High School (2 grants);

Dr. Lois M. Campbell, St. James Lutheran School;

John Pearl, Beth Anthrop, Tina Cupp, Shirley Frist, Bill Laufman, Jolene Freeman, Brenda Klinkhamer, Valerie Miller, Virginia Smith, Jennifer Edwards, Diane Lehman, Battle Ground Elementary School;

Kelly Schetzsle, Debbie Smith, Loralie Brose, Burnett Creek Elementary School; and

John Pearl, Diane Lehman, Jennifer Edwards, Jolene Freeman, Battle Ground Elementary School.

Posters of projects funded for the current school year will be displayed at the event.

Evonik also honored gifted elementary students who live outside Tippecanoe County under the Junior Scholars program. Five students will participate in a week-long academic program on the Purdue campus in July. Junior Scholars is a partnership between Evonik Industries, Tippecanoe Laboratories and the Purdue Gifted Education Resource Institute.

The Partners in Education program helps educators and youth in a variety of ways. In addition, Tippecanoe employees help judge science projects, provide classroom science demonstrations and develop activities for teachers through the Wizard Science program.

The PIE program is overseen by a committee of educators, school administrators and Evonik employees.

For additional information about Evonik in North America, please visit our website: www.evonik.com/north-america.