After Bricen launched the rudimentary rocket he had built at Chevron Engineering camp, the Fruitvale Junior High School student from Kern County raised his arms in triumph.
"It went really good, better than I had expected," he said with a smile. "At first the parachute wasn't going to come out, but right at the last second, it came out and floated down really fast."
The rocket launch was the culmination of a weeklong program involving local teachers and Chevron volunteers to generate excitement among young people about science, technology, engineering and math—collectively referred to as STEM.
In California, more than half a million students and 6,600 teachers benefitted from Chevron funded STEM education programs in the past two years, including professional development programs for nearly 1,000 teachers.
"We're working to cultivate the next generation of mathematicians, scientists and innovators by forming partnerships, harnessing the power of human capital and implementing new approaches," said Linda Padon, general manager of Corporate Public Policy for Chevron.
As a California company, Chevron strongly supports helping California's youth prepare to enter the 21st century workforce, and understands that a highly skilled workforce is critical to Chevron's business. In 2009, Chevron created the California Partnership, an ongoing initiative to invest in economic development and STEM education, with a focus on underserved communities. Beyond Chevron's financial investments in education, the company matches employees' contributions to nonprofits, and employees volunteer to help students through Chevron Humankind, our employee and retiree giving and volunteer program.