Social Commitment
The natural sciences, mathematics, informatics, and technology
are among the drivers of economic development and
social
progress around the world. In this context, ALTANA
sees itself as having a responsibility to introduce young people
to these disciplines at an early stage and to kindle their
enthusiasm
for them. In cooperation with experienced partners
from the education sector, the ALTANA Group supports
concrete projects, often in the immediate proximity of
ALTANA’s sites. To maximize lasting impact, the company
usually promotes these projects over a period of several years.
Educational Coaching of
Elementary School Children
In 2016, ALTANA sponsored the so-called educational coaching
of schoolchildren at the Elementary School GGS Innenstadt
in Wesel for the third year in a row. Initiated by the City
of Wesel and implemented by the Klausenhof Academy,
the coaching helps advance elementary school children from
educationally deprived classes to sustainably improve their
development opportunities and school careers. In their free
time, volunteer mentors give the children individual
super-
vision.
In the last three years, ALTANA has financed the personnel
and material costs for a socio-educational expert and
will continue to do so in the next three years. The social
education worker assigns a “personal mentor” to each child,
trains the mentors, and coordinates their work. Apart
from individual
activities carried out by the mentors and chil-
dren (for instance library visits or excursions), the edu-
cational coaching also includes group events. In 2015, one
such event was a research afternoon at ALTANA where
the children had the opportunity to conduct their own experiments
on the topic of volcanoes with the help of
food products. Inspired by their newly acquired knowledge,
the children decided to repeat this series of experiments
at their school, organizing a “research day” for these experi-
ments in 2016.
Junior Researchers Visit ALTANA
Furthering children and adolescents’ scientific knowledge has
a tradition at ALTANA. For example, employees of BYK-Chemie
at our Wesel site have worked as school ambassadors
for many years. Over time, comparable initiatives were
launched at ALTANA’s sites in Widnes, Great Britain, and
Grevenbroich, Germany.
In Wesel, BYK works with two elementary schools
(GGS Feldmark and GGS Konrad Duden), as well as the German
Red Cross (DRK) daycare center Abenteuerland in
the so-called “House of Junior Researchers.” The concept includes
special research days with the school ambassadors.
Once a year, the 300 participating children and their parents
come to the ALTANA conference center to present the results
of their work or experiments. In 2016, the subjects of
water and communication were the focal points.
At the Widnes site, the cooperation with local schools
consisted of several components. First, an employee of
BYK Additives acting as a so-called governor helped sixth
graders construct solar panels. Second, 90 students visited
the site within the framework of their science program. And
third, employees informed the students about scientific
training and career possibilities at two national events (Science
at Work Week and Industry Day).
In 2015, ACTEGA Rhenania employees offered preschool
children at our Grevenbroich site the chance to experiment
with adhesives and paints. In 2016, they organized
three seminars for tenth graders in which the latter had the
opportunity to make packaging coatings themselves.
94 Social Commitment