June 16, 2008

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and DuPont barnstormed throughout the country during the month of April visiting three states, seven cities and 29 schools holding Science in the School Day events at each stop. Science in the School Day is a program created out of the Cities United for Science progress partnership founded by DuPont and USCM. The program enlists a young group of diverse engineers (the best and the brightest of DuPont’s field engineering program) to fly into USCM member cities and match them up with mayors in their city’s schools. There, the mayor and the engineer lead elementary school kids in science experiences that focus on basic engineering principles.

DuPont engineers stopped to make their first visit to Omaha (NE), home of the College World Series and Mayor Mike Fahey. Eighteen schools participated throughout the event day, which reached almost 1250 students, making it one of the biggest events in the seven-year history of the program. The mayor’s office also included several members of the community, including his cabinet officers, the police chief and his staff to act as ‘surrogate mayors’ for the schools he could not visit.

The following week, Science in the School Day made a four-day long tour of the Gulf Coast visiting cities that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. This tour reprised a visit the DuPont-USCM program made a few months after the disaster in 2006 to uplift the spirits of children in the area. Local DuPont engineers from nearby plants visited four schools along the damaged coastal area of Mississippi and saw very positive signs of new hotel and condo developments in the cities. One of the schools visited in Pascagola (MS) was Mayor Matthew Avara’s elementary school alma mater. The mayor brought along with him his wonderful mother who told stories of how the mayor behaved and misbehaved while in school, including the time when as a fourth grader the mayor drove a tractor to school. She never thought on that day, her son would grow up to be mayor. At Lake Elementary, Avara worked with 40 fourth grade students building puff mobile racecars.

grade students building puff mobile racecars.

The Gulf Coast trip, however, was anchored by a large citywide event in Baton Rouge (LA) where Mayor Melvin “Kip” Holden and DuPont engineer Dawn Parker presided over the single largest event during the month of April, leading 250 fourth graders in a massive puff mobile race at Tanglewood Elementary School. DuPont also sponsored and visited six other schools in Baton Rouge and reached nearly 1,000 students during the day. The children at Tanglewood were some of the best engineers in the history of the event as the winning student built a vehicle without wheels to beat out his fellow students in the racing competition. Each winner was awarded with a DuPont sponsored Jeff Gordon remote controlled NASCAR for their efforts.

DuPont and USCM also visited Arlington (TX) and Doral (FL) during the month of May before beginning the summer schedule. To have Science in the School Day in your city, call Charles Small at 202-466-2089 or send e-mail to charles@westinrinehart.com.