Toyota Supports 2014 Science And Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit

DETROIT, March 17, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Toyota will serve as a major sponsor of the upcoming 2014 Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit (SEFMD), an annual competition which honors some of the brightest young minds in the tri-county area.

Celebrating its 57th year, the SEFMD will be held March 11-15 at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. The event features hundreds of innovative projects from students in the 6th through 12th grades, representing Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.

High school-aged students will be vying for a variety of individual and team awards, including local college scholarships for the top-six individual and top team entrants in the senior division.

This year, 1,569 students from 140 public, private and home schools will participate in the SEFMD. Of this total, about 55 percent of the contestants are female and more than 30 percent of all entrants are from Detroit Public Schools (DPS).

Dave Baxter, Executive Administrator at the Ann Arbor-based Toyota Technical Center, and an SEFMD board member, said this competition often steers students toward their career paths.

“These students represent the engineers, scientists and physicians of the future,” Baxter said. “Many of our own Toyota engineers have enduring memories of similar science fairs during their formative years. Many of them point to these events as impacting their collegiate and professional pursuits.”

About SEFMD

The Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit (SEFMD), in its 57th year of operation, is a non-profit organization established to give students in the tri-county area (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb counties) an opportunity to develop and exhibit science fair projects.

The competition is separated into two groups - junior division (6th, 7th and 8th grades) and senior division (9th - 12th grades). Students are judged within their respective categories (total of 13 categories based on scientific discipline). Up to six students (limit of one student per school in the senior division) and one team project (two or three students) may be selected to participate in the 2014 International Science and Engineering Fair.

The SEFMD is administered by a Board of Directors and the operations of the Fair are managed by an Operating Council. Both groups meet regularly to plan for the Fair. All members of the Board and the Operating Council are volunteers who give generously of their time, money and other resources. In addition, more than 500 people volunteer their time during the week of the Fair, including judging work, checking in projects, and assisting with public viewing and project removal.

About Toyota

Toyota, the world’s top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ nearly 40,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.23 million cars and trucks in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. (NYSE: TM)

For more information about the Science and Engineering Fair of Metro Detroit, visit www.sefmd.org.