BASF Beaumont, BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals Awarded for Support of STEAM Education

BASF Beaumont and BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals, LLC., received the Beaumont Children’s Museum Chuck Mason STEAM Champion Award for the organizations’ impact on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) education. Collaboratively, BASF and BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals (BTP) with the Beaumont Children’s Museum, provides access for more than 10,000 Southeast Texas school children to STEAM curriculum every year.

“BASF Beaumont and BASF TOTALEnergies Petrochemical in Port Arthur have both been leading partners with the Beaumont Children’s Museum developing ways to showcase chemistry and other STEAM-based programs in our classroom and at the Museum,” said Amanda Yarbrough, Executive Director of the Beaumont Children’s Museum. “We are lucky to have the commitment of these organizations; they have leveraged their renowned global expertise in chemical production to champion and elevate the museum’s mission.”

BASF and BTP provide the Beaumont Children’s Museum with Kids’ Lab curriculum for children ages, 4-12, supplying children with hands-on opportunities to explore connections between science and their world. Kids experience the curriculum while at the Museum for visits, during summer camp and while on field trips. Additionally, BASF and BTP provide Kids’ Lab backpacks that allow the Museum to distribute supplemental science lessons to schools, libraries and at other community events.

“As a mother of four children under the age of 12, I know the importance of engaging young people in interactive and fun science and math projects; in fact one of my favorite Kids’ Lab experiments involves SAP or super absorbent polymer, which is used in baby diapers and is manufactured at our BASF Freeport facility where I worked for 13 years,” said Elizabeth Monroe, Site Director for BASF in Beaumont. “I’m thrilled to work for a company committed to helping so many children each year explore chemistry at such a young age and, of course, it’s wonderful to be recognized for our efforts, especially by the Children’s Museum, a treasure in our community.”

During the decade-long partnership with the Beaumont Children’s Museum, the BASF Kids’ Lab curriculum has become what the Museum refers to as its “go-to-resource” used to develop all Museum educational programs throughout the year. To ensure new students are exposed to the curriculum each year, second graders visiting the Museum experience programming called “Playful Polymers.” The fun, and a bit messy experiment, is designed to teach students about molecules, polymers, monomers and other related scientific concepts. The program was delivered to an estimated 1,300 students last year and will be delivered to as many or more in 2024.

Each summer, the Museum hosts a week-long STEAM camp teaching the Kids’ Lab curriculum twice a day to two groups of school-aged children. BASF and BTP employees serve as volunteers in the classroom. Two volunteers a day join the summer campers and assist with the Kids’ Lab experiments.

“Our employees always enjoy serving during the Kids’ Lab summer camp,” said John Lycan, Site Manager for BTP in Port Arthur. “It’s a win-win. Our employees get to observe how the children experience the curriculum; the children can interact with people who have careers in chemistry. I believe that interaction will spark the interest of the next generation of scientists.”