Chesapeake Energy 2006 Annual Report Download - page 22

18 Chesapeake Energy Corporation 2006 Annual Report
Social Responsibility and
Community Service
The first responsibility of every publicly held company is to build value for its shareholders while providing a product or service
vital to economic and social development. A second important responsibility should be to serve as a conscientious corporate citizen
in every community where it conducts business. Since our founding in 1989, Chesapeake has been committed to meeting both
responsibilities: building shareholder value while helping make the world a better place.
Educational Commitment
In a knowledge-driven global economy, Chesapeake focuses on a U.S.-based business model that builds both the competitive skills
of its work force and the communities where its employees live, work and play. We accomplish this important goal through work-
force training and investments in education at all levels.
In 2003, we began a relatively small program to provide college scholarships to students from rural Oklahoma communities.
Since its inception, the Chesapeake Scholars program has grown into one of the larger corporate scholarship programs in America,
pledging over $6 million dollars to well-deserving students. Twenty-two colleges and universities around the nation currently
receive financial support from this program, a number expected to grow to 35 programs in 2007.
While today’s Chesapeake Scholars will continue to receive general support in their chosen fields of endeavor, future scholarship
recipients will be more focused in areas such as the geosciences, petroleum engineering, land, information technology, human
resources, accounting and law. The energy industry is growing quickly, and skilled, well-educated employees are highly sought
after as valuable contributors to the success of Chesapeake and our industry.
Among the many bright spots in our educational support program is Chesapeake’s partnership with Southern West Virginia
Community College (SWVCC) at its main campus in Logan County, West Virginia. For 30 years, SWVCC has made higher education
more accessible to both traditional and nontraditional students in southern West Virginia, the core of Chesapeake’s Appalachian
natural gas producing base. In addition, understanding that natural gas exploration and production is an increasingly vital part
of West Virginia’s future, Chesapeake’s financial support of the soon-to-open Academy for Mine Safety and Energy Technologies
at SWVCC will provide education and training for future leaders of both the mining and natural gas industries.
Another example of Chesapeake’s educational commitment is our recent $500,000 donation to the Oklahoma School of Science
and Mathematics in Oklahoma City to create the first endowed chair in a public high school in the state’s history. The professor
filling the Chesapeake Chair for Geoscience will be teaching some of the state’s brightest high school junior and senior students
about the exciting world of geology and geophysics. By planting seeds at this early stage, we anticipate some of these gifted students
will continue an academic path in the geosciences, ultimately leading them to highly rewarding technology-driven careers critical
to today’s increasingly challenging search for clean-burning natural gas reserves.
The company’s educational initiatives extend to the grade school level as well. For example, Nash Elementary School in Fort
Worth, Texas, the capital of the prolific gas-producing Barnett Shale, received a donation from Chesapeake that enabled every
teacher to have his or her own laptop computer in class. This allows both teachers and students to benefit from easier access to
the latest information and technologies.
Just as Nash Elementary in Fort Worth has benefited from Chesapeake’s corporate philanthropy, so has Horace Mann Elementary
School, our adopted grade school located just blocks from our corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City. In addition to significant
yearly financial support, more than 100 dedicated Chesapeake employee mentors spend an hour of company time every week
reading and talking to their students. By investing in the physical appearance of the school and by providing an effective mentoring