Thanks to the donation from the chemical company, the successful student laboratory can continue its work.

Teaching natural sciences close to everyday life and getting students excited about chemistry: the Student Chemistry Lab at the University of Koblenz does just that by addressing children’s and adolescents’ everyday environment and thus offering an extracurricular place of learning where there is a lot to discover. On the initiative of Dr Eva Olmo Gil, employee of Zschimmer & Schwarz at the Lahnstein site and a part-time lecturer at the University of Koblenz for many years, the Student Chemistry Lab received a donation of 9,000 euros to support its work.

The Student Chemistry Lab was founded in 2005 by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Koblenz and has since offered schoolchildren from primary school age to students in upper secondary school the opportunity to experiment in the laboratories of the Institute of Integrated Natural Sciences. The various offers of the student lab – from events for entire school classes to targeted support for particularly interested young people – always have one thing in common: the focus is on experimental work, which makes it easier for the children and young people to understand chemical interrelations. Through independent experimentation, the levels of feeling, seeing, smelling and hearing are linked, which significantly promotes the learning process.

The demand for this important offer in extracurricular education in the Koblenz area is high: "The number of requests from schools has risen strongly after the corona pandemic and now even exceeds the capacities of the student lab," explains Dr Edith Nitsche, employee of the University of Koblenz and head of the student lab. "The quality of our work is largely dependent on the support staff and the development of age-appropriate materials for the students. Staff costs are often the biggest challenge in this. We are therefore particularly grateful for the generous donation from Zschimmer & Schwarz, which has ensured the continued existence of the student lab for another year."

Dr Christoph Riemer, Chief Executive Officer at Zschimmer & Schwarz, adds: "Chemistry is still best taught to students in a hands-on way through experiments. For us as a chemical company, it is important that as many people as possible learn about the importance of chemistry in every area of our everyday lives as early as possible. At the same time, the student lab also makes an important contribution to career and study orientation which in turn can help us recruit the specialists of tomorrow."

On the occasion of the company’s 125-year anniversary in 2019, the shareholders of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group started a special charitable programme: all employees around the world were asked to present local initiatives that the company could support with a donation. This donation campaign went into the next round in 2022 and will be repeated every two years in the future.

The Student Chemistry Lab is one of more than 20 projects and institutions across Europe supported by Zschimmer & Schwarz as part of the donation campaign with a total sum of around 250,000 euros. “Social responsibility and sustainable action have been part of the DNA of our family business Zschimmer & Schwarz ever since it was founded”, explains Gisela Rochow, shareholder of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group. “We are happy that our donations have a direct impact in the locations where our companies are based and that we can thus give something valuable back to society”, adds Thomas Schwarz, also shareholder of Zschimmer & Schwarz.