• Affirming the belief that education is critical in developing great professionals from today’s young students, BP continued its tradition of support at the Houston Hispanic Forum’s 24th Annual Career and Education Day.
  

THE LARGEST OF ITS KIND in the nation, the free event is a resource for students in grades six to twelve as well as their parents.

Since its inception in 1986, the event has grown enormously, and this year’s incarnation attracted more than 17,000 students and parents to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Photo gallery of 2010 Career and Education Day

BP Young Leader Scholarships

A participant in many of the previous events, BP continued this year by sponsoring a booth and funding three 2010 BP Young Leader Scholarships. BP’s booth displayed opportunities in the oil and gas industry. Subdivided into upstream and downstream sections, the display provided aspiring students with a fresh look at the challenges of looking for, recovering, and producing crude oil and natural gas.

Volunteer representatives from BP’s exploration and production groups sacrificed Saturday free time to answer student queries.

A downstream component depicted how gasoline is refined, transported and marketed. BP volunteers from Texas City gave firsthand information to inquisitive students and their parents about how the company provides refined product and natural gas to nearly every corner of America.

“Our main goal in Career and Education Day is demonstrating the importance of education and helping to develop great professionals for society,” says Reservoir Engineer Alonso Mago, one of the event organizers. “We demonstrate our commitment by providing $3,000 scholarships to three distinguished students to help them pay tuition for college. At the same time, we set up our booth to give students and their parents an opportunity to see what we do in our business.”

Inform and inspire

Mago says BP takes seriously the need to inform and inspire Hispanic students. “Education is what moves society,” he says. “BP is extremely involved in the US and we need to make sure the company stays on top of education in our community. Education will impact the families in our community, our city, the state and the nation. I believe we need to keep sponsoring these scholarships and events to make sure we demonstrate how much BP values education.”

“The forum opened many opportunities for me and hundreds of other students,” said Gabriela Calixto, who aspires to work in telecommunications as an electrical engineer. “From getting thorough information in careers to interacting with professionals, I learned that anything is possible with an education. Speaking to Hispanic engineers was an interesting experience. They motivated me to follow my career path.”

“I want to receive my Bachelors of Science in biology and then go to graduate school,” said Guadalupe Torres. “I am considering becoming an optometrist. The scholarship will help pay for my tuition and allow my to be a full-time college student. The scholarship lessens my worries about paying for college and is going to allow me to dedicate all of my time and energy to studying in college as opposed to working.”

“The forum is full of welcoming people, people who are willing to assist you in just about anything,” said Erika Ruiz. “Thanks to the Houston Hispanic Forum, I know that anything can be accomplished.”

Photo gallery of 2010 Career and Education Day

Event Date: January 9