By Jennifer R. Calloway
October 9, 2006

According to The Rural School and Community Trust, a national nonprofit organization, in 2002-2003, 46 percent public school students attended school in communities with populations less than 25,000. Many rural schools face challenges beyond poverty, including students with disabilities, students with limited English'skills, inadequate access to technology, and minority students disadvantaged by generations of racial and ethnic discrimination.

Although member cities of the Conference of Mayors all have populations of at least 30,000 many of the smaller cities like Wilson (NC) with a population of 45,000 share school districts with tiny farming communities.

Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP), the educational partnership between the Conference of Mayors and DuPont kicked-off the 2006-2007 school-year with Science in the School Day serving the Conference of Mayors members and the outlaying rural communities with which they share land, traditions and resources.

When Wilson (NC) Mayor Bruce Rose inquired about making Science in the School Day a county-wide event incorporating other public schools in Black Creek, Stantonsburg, and Lucama, CUSP couldn’t refuse. The result was a Wilson County Science in the School Day that reached over 150 children across one of North Carolina’s largest agricultural enclaves.

With the help of five DuPont engineers Chow He, Sara McDonald, Michael Farley, Bryan Rhoads and Stefanie Naski, all from the from DuPont’s local Fayetteville (NC) plant, Wilson County Schools took time September 7 to address math and science education. The engineers facilitated the “puff mobile experiment” which teaches students basic engineering principals about different types of energy as well as an introduction to scientific inquiry.

Less than a month before CUSP came to North Carolina, Governor Mike Easley announced that DuPont would invest $50 million to build an additional plant at Fayetteville focused on making solar energy panel materials. The announcement was another example of DuPont’s commitment to creating new science-based careers in North Carolina and encouraging a new generation of engineers to fill these cutting-edge positions. Hopefully the school children participating in Science in the School Day will continue to explore the miracles of science. If they do, there will be local jobs awaiting them.

“This growing demand for solar energy materials proves that DuPont needs a diverse pool of talented graduates to remain competitive in these rapidly changing global markets,” said Fayetteville Works Plant Manager Barry Hudson.

“DuPont is committed to supporting education in our communities, and ‘Science in the School Day’ is a great opportunity to share information about science and engineering careers with these students,” he concluded.

Although the students were excited to meet and interact with the engineers it did not hurt that in NASCAR-country when the name Jeff Gordon is mentioned DuPont tends to follow. Hands all around the room shot-up when Rose asked the children at Winstead Elementary if they knew who sponsors Gordon’s car, amongst the sea of hands one could not help but to think at least one had to be an engineer-in-the-making.