Domtar Supports Summer Education with Project Exploration Station

Domtar's Hawesville Mill and Owensboro Converting, in conjunction with Domtar's Sustainability Committee, made a financial donation to Project Exploration Station, a retired school bus that has been renovated into an educational center on wheels. The Foundation for Daviess County (Kentucky) Public Schools Board of Directors developed an exciting and unique educational platform for area students so that learning doesn't have to stop over the summer. 

Exploration Station's primary focus is taking educational enhancement opportunities into areas with historically low academic success. This mobile station is taking the Summer Learning Academy, Summer Lunch Feeding Program, after-school programming, FASFA and college application assistance and other support into areas of need. 

It will also serve as a collection center for books, school supplies, coats and more.

The bus includes an internet café with Wi-Fi, laptop computers, computer tablets, a printer station, literacy, science and/or craft stations, give-away books and other reading material to improve literacy.  In addition, Exploration Station has recently been designated an approved Summer Feeding Program site that can provide meals to students who visit. 

This summer Exploration Station has more than 60 neighborhood visits planned.  Several of the communities on the itinerary are rural and far from a public library. The bus will offer these students access to books all summer.

The summer literacy, math, science and physical education programs will help students in neighborhoods with a historically high incidence of what educators refer to as "summer slide." 

"Summer slide is the loss of learning over a period of time that occurs in students who do not have consistent access to educational materials," said Caleb York, Audubon Elementary School principal. "For some students, this can equate to a two-to-three month backtrack. I am looking forward to bringing meaningful learning experiences to our students and families this summer."

Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a wide variety of fiber-based products, including communication papers, specialty and packaging papers, and absorbent hygiene products. The foundation of our business is a network of world-class wood fiber-converting assets that produce papergrade, fluff and specialty pulp. The majority of our pulp production is consumed internally to manufacture paper and consumer products. Domtar is the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America with recognized brands such as Cougar®, Lynx® Opaque Ultra, Husky® Opaque Offset, First Choice®, EarthChoice® and Xerox® Paper and Specialty Media. Domtar is also a marketer and producer of a broad line of absorbent hygiene products marketed primarily under the Attends®, IncoPack® and Indasec® brand names. In 2014, Domtar had sales of $5.6 billion from some 50 countries. The Company employs approximately 9,800 people. To receive bite-size updates on Domtar’s sustainability efforts, along with practical eco-tips you can actually use, subscribe to the EarthChoice Monthly Minute newsletter.