Bayer Corporation Gives Its Support to Girl Scouts and Environment

In a November 18th press release, Bayer Corporation announced that it was awarding the Girl Scouts a new $19,000 Making Science Make Sense (R) (MSMS) grant. In the same press release, the organization also announced that it had joined the Plant for the Planet: The Billion Dollar Tree Campaign of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Further, the press release announced that a group of its employees had volunteered along with Girl Scout troops from Washington Township, New Jersey and Parsippany, New Jersey to plant ten trees at Lake Rickabear, which is owned by the Girl Scouts of New Jersey.

The new MSMS grant monies will be used to support three "Super Science Fun Days" which are day long workshops that are filled with hands on experiences for girl scouts in the areas of science, engineering, technology, and math. The press release stated that fiber optics, the study of their own DNA, and the study of optical illusions might be some of the topics of the girl scout workshops which are designed to improve critical thinking in science.

Mary Ann Lewis of the New Jersey Girl Scouts was quoted in the Bayer press release as stating: "Trees are vital to a health community, and planting trees today not only helps us leave a legacy for future generations of Girl Scouts, but helps us meet our mission of making the world a better place by empowering today's Girls Scouts with the STEM knowledge and skills necessary to change it." (STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.)

Bayer Corporation has other MSMS projects as well as the new grant. In another of its local programs in Morristown, New Jsersey, the MSMS program is distributing CDs about science and the environment to the Girl Scouts. The CDs include information about why the leaves of trees change colors and how pruning of trees helps the trees to grow. The Making Science Make Sense program of Bayer corporation has twelve locations throughout the United States and involves one thousand of its employees as volunteers according to the press release.