Fourteen years ago, I began teaching history at a public high school and my students and colleagues were awesome, but I could see that the school did not have the same resources as the schools I'd attended.



At my old high school, we went on field trips; we had graphing calculators and were given the supplies to do just about any art project. We did not want for anything.



This wasn’t the case for my students. As their teacher, I saw first-hand that all schools are not created equal.



My colleagues and I spent a lot of our own money on copy paper and pencils, but we often couldn’t afford the resources that would get our students excited about learning. We’d talk about books our students should read, a field trip we wanted to take, or a microscope that would bring science to life.



I figured there were people out there who wanted to help our students, if they could see where their money was going. So, using a pencil and paper, I drew a website where teachers could post classroom project requests and donors could choose a project they wanted to support. 



Fourteen years later, our website has channeled educational materials to more than 12.7 million students, the majority from low-income communities and many of whom are learning English as a second language. Our site has connected more than 1.5 million donors and will help bring more than $274 million in resources to classrooms this school year. This support – from schools, teachers, school districts, community members and collaborations with companies like Chevron – is helping to offset the more than $1.6 billion teachers spent last year on their classrooms nationwide [1]. 


We’re proud of the calculators, microscopes and books that we’ve delivered to 205,155 teachers across the United States. But there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.



While roughly 75 percent of our nation’s high school students are not proficient in mathematics when they complete 12th grade, [2] the U.S. Dept. of Labor projects that 15 of the 20 fastest growing occupations in 2014 will require math or science proficiency to successfully compete for those jobs. [3] To help keep large industries competitive here in King County, we need to help our students gain the skills to be successful in the occupations of the future.


It’s going to take a lot to strengthen STEM education and Chevron has been a champion for teachers, for quite some time. This year, Chevron is bringing Fuel Your School, an innovative collaboration with DonorsChoose.org to fund teacher-requested projects to King County.



As part of the program, Chevron is funding up to $600K of eligible classroom projects in King County posted to DonorsChoose.org by local teachers.



With the help of Chevron’s Fuel Your School program, Ms. McManamon, a third grade teacher at Madrona Elementary School in SeaTac received needed supplies for both English and Spanish language students in her classroom to utilize technology and help engage students in their learning.In addition to Ms. McManamon’s project, since 2010, Chevron’s Fuel Your School program has already helped fund 8,261 classroom projects at 2,590 schools in select communities in the U.S.


You can make an impact too. Visit www.FuelYourSchool.com to see the materials teachers are requesting in your area and from which schools, and encourage teachers in your participating school district to post their classroom projects today. Right now, we have the opportunity to help more students get the materials they need in their classrooms, including those to help prepare them for the STEM careers of the future.



Charles Best is the Founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that allows anyone to contribute directly to classroom projects and help students in need.