THE WOODLANDS, Texas — They bounded in with smiles bright enough to light the whole area. It’s not unusual for The Fan Experience, a tented village on the back lawn at The Club at Carlton Woods, to attract a crowd of kids during The Chevron Championship.

There is a putting green and prizes, some interactive exhibits and good views of players traversing to and from the course. But it isn’t every day that a group of math-loving kids scramble to engage with a science-themed LPGA*USGA Girls Golf STEM Academy, especially during a major championship.

But come they did, a classroom full, eager to engage and learn. Four of the girls, ages 11 and 12, made a beeline for the station on thermal dynamics, in part because the science was cool and also because they were heat-pressing stickers onto Chevron Championship hats and visors.

All the stations were designed by Girls Golf E-Leaders, teenagers who went through the program and are now mentors for younger LPGA*USGA Girls Golf members. Those stations included a gyroscope, which, according to the E-Leaders, “demonstrated the principles of angular momentum and rotational stability, which are essential in physics and applicable to understanding the mechanics of a golf swing.”

Also, there was a putting green with different kinds of balls, and these instructions: “Testing how various balls (regular, foam, plastic) behave on the putting green teaches participants about mass, force, and friction, directly relating the physics concepts that influence putting strategies in golf.”

“We’re out here to do something fun, learn more about golf and hopefully get better,” said Jade Moy, a 12-year-old from the Yellowstone School, a non-profit, non-denominational, private Christian school in Houston’s Third Ward that caters to underprivileged Black kids from one of the city’s high-crime areas.

Jade and her classmates, Da’Miya Ellen, Gloria Saffore and Autumn Houston are the poster kids for that successful educational model. When asked what subjects they liked best, all four of the middle schoolers said, “math and science.” Da’Miya added, “It just came to me, and the way our teachers teach it, and the way we learn to solve problems, it makes it fun and great.”

Mike Wirth didn’t know those kids when he and his team at Chevron chose to focus the Girls Golf Experience on STEM, but he knew the mission. Women make up only 35 percent of all STEM college graduates, which means that jobs like oil and gas engineers and alternative energy scientists are predominantly filled by men.

The Girls Golf STEM Academy is but one of the initiatives Chevron rolled out at The Chevron Championship.

Girls at the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf STEM activation

The Chevron Changing the Face of Golf Scholarship was awarded to five female seniors of minority backgrounds who are committed to a full-time, STEM-focused course of study at an accredited U.S. college or university. In partnership with the LPGA Foundation, Chevron will also award seven $2,500 scholarships, renewable annually over four years for a total of $10,000 per recipient. Additionally, the recipients from the 2023 and 2024 programs will each receive an additional $2,500 this year, increasing their total award to over $50,000.

Autumn has a long way to go before thinking about college. But the fact that it is now an option represents a seismic shift.

As she looked over the station at the Girls Golf STEM Academy that asked, “Which is Faster? Cheetah (30 x 2) + 10 = ___ mph; Pro baseball pitch (31 x 3) + 3 = ___ mph; Pro tennis serve (54 x 2) + 1 = ___ mph; Pro hockey shot (33 x 3) + 1 = ___ mph; Pro golf drive (58 x 3) + 1 = ____ mph,” you could see the blooming within Autumn’s eager young mind.

She became still, working the problems quickly in her head. After a moment, she said, “Math is just the best subject. I want to learn how science works in golf.”

With that statement, Chevron’s overall mission could only be called a success.

Chevron Activates Education Through Scholarships and LPGA*USGA Girls Golf STEM Academy

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