Abby CoppingerAn investment in education is an investment in tomorrow’s leaders. Each year, the OERB, through voluntary contributions from oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners, provides millions of dollars to Oklahoma teachers. To date, the OERB has given more than $40 million dollars to education from elementary school to college level – $3.5 million in 2016 alone.
“Without teachers, you wouldn’t have doctors, you wouldn’t have lawyers, you wouldn’t have anything. So I appreciate the way the OERB recognizes that and supports education.”
—Tearsa Innis, Teacher, Ben Franklin STEM Academy
Statewide impact.
These voluntary donations have provided free STEM related curricula for 98% of Oklahoma school districts, including training, materials, field trips, in-class presentations and more. Since 1995, educational programs and initiatives have reached more than 1.9 million students. Teaching materials valued up to $1,100 are available to all Oklahoma teachers, and each year approximately 40,000 students participate in free field trips to 11 partner museums across the state.
Free training for teachers.
Workshops are available to all Oklahoma teachers at no charge. These sessions provide training to help make experiments and studies in math, science, social studies and language arts as effective as possible. In 2016, more than 1,590 teachers attended 14 workshops.
Opening doors to future careers.
Along with curricula and teaching materials, the OERB also provides videos and classroom presentations. Quirky Professor Leo presents “Lab Time with Leo,” a series of entertaining videos that students and teachers follow along with while performing experiments that relate to the oil and natural gas industry. The OERB’s Petro Pros program connects oil and natural gas professionals with classrooms, where they volunteer their time giving geology based presentations and educating students on the various career opportunities within the industry. In 2016, Petro Pros gave 300 presentations reaching 10,255 students.
Oklahoma teachers need all the support they can get. Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas industry will always step up to do their part. Learn more about the industry’s ongoing commitment to education and Oklahoma teachers by visiting OERB.com/education.