ConocoPhillips Hosts Thornwood Elementary Students

Fifth-grade students at Thornwood Elementary School taking part in a mentoring program through the ConocoPhillips Asian American Network (AAN) joined their adult mentors recently at the Houston company’s global headquarters.

The SBISD students are tutored and mentored by ConocoPhillips AAN volunteers, who work with the fifth-graders weekly on math skills. Over the recent holiday season, students visited the ConocoPhillips campus where they were given a peek into the work performed by their adult mentors on a daily basis.

The fifth-graders heard presentations from a geologist and financial analyst, who explained to their young visitors how they apply science and math in their work to find and produce oil and natural gas. “After eight weeks of tutoring, the Asian American Network hosted the students and volunteers at ConocoPhillips global headquarters,” reports Communities in Schools Project Manager Jose Gonzalez. “Our students had the opportunity to see where their tutors and mentors work, and to experience a corporate environment.”

The mentoring program supports Spring Branch ISD’s goal for every student to attain technical or military certification, or a two- or four-year college degree – known as T-2-4. “At Thornwood Elementary, our focus is aligned with SBISD’s T-2-4 goal,” Gonzalez said. SBISD students at several campuses are supported by adult volunteers and by the nonprofit Communities in Schools organization.

Information in this report was reviewed and edited by ConocoPhillips.