STEM

Inspiring innovation and imagination

Devon’s future employees must have strong technical know-how and creative problem-solving skills to help us deliver affordable oil and natural gas in an environmentally and socially responsible way.

We believe investing in education can help us build the workforce we need to achieve our technology leadership goals and our vision of an open, supportive and respectful workplace where differences are valued and employees feel a sense of belonging. Our social investments are focused on building student capabilities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). We’re particularly interested in building a workforce that represents all types of students and whose talents will be needed to fill the increasing number of STEM-related jobs at Devon and in our industry.

As technology for our industry rapidly evolves and transforms our company, people with diverse backgrounds and new ways of looking at problems can help us innovate. We need technology solutions to drill and produce oil and gas efficiently, achieve our aggressive emissions reduction targets and improve safety. At the same time, we’re committed to addressing racial and social inequality wherever it is found. Our investments in STEM education support progress in both of these important areas.

To direct our philanthropic investments to the most promising programs, Devon partners with qualified organizations that have a track record in STEM to identify community needs and solutions. Our partners include the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Foundation and other nonprofits, as well as teachers and administrators from several school districts. Insights from our stakeholder conversations guide us to provide resources and materials to implement programs aimed at empowering groups that have been underserved in the past.

Continuing progress at our original STEM partner school

Devon has supported STEM education with grants to teachers and school programs, investments in STEM centers and contributions to STEM-focused programs for over a decade. We significantly enhanced our STEM capabilities in 2019 by convening local and national nonprofits, corporations and private foundations to develop a new STEM model.

One of our partners, the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, has been a driving force in changing how students and families interact with STEM resources in schools and communities. The Ripken Foundation transforms outdated school rooms into state-of-the-art STEM resource spaces where STEM learning becomes increasingly integrated into children’s education. Teachers receive training and STEM resources to inspire students and increase their understanding of basic circuitry, coding, robotics, engineering and more.

Our first Ripken STEM center was created in 2019 at Mark Twain Elementary School, Devon’s long-time partner school in Oklahoma City. Mark Twain students and teachers achieved several academic milestones recently. In 2024, Mark Twain was ranked the #1 elementary school in OKCPS, based on testing scores. This followed the school receiving the top grade in the OKCPS district from the Oklahoma Department of Education, based on broad categories including academic achievement, academic growth and the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA). Mark Twain’s principal credits the school’s progress, in part, to teachers who received financial and academic support through a Devon grant to finish college and earn their teaching certification without any debt. Three teachers at Mark Twain completed this OKCPS Teacher Pipeline program and joined the school administration with masters degrees. In addition, four Mark Twain support staff are in the district’s paraprofessional pipeline program to become certified teachers.

Devon is committed to helping students explore innovative tools and understand high-tech topics at a young age. To explore that further, Devon has created a unique birth-to-school continuum in the Mark Twain neighborhood through partnerships with the school, the Harbison Early Childhood Center next door and Engage Learning to provide family STEM nights and other neighborhood-wide educational events throughout the year. Based on the success of this STEM model at Mark Twain, we continue to expand STEM resources in other areas where we operate.

Expanding our STEM model

By year-end 2024, Devon had opened a total of 188 STEM centers in elementary schools in the five states where we operate. Ripken STEM centers are now installed in every elementary or primary school in Tulsa and on the MHA reservation. We opened STEM centers in three middle schools, one sixth-grade center, one after school program and 22 elementary schools in 2024.

Our 2025 plans include opening several new STEM centers, refreshing Oklahoma City STEM centers, continuing Devon SportsLab and launching a partnership with BMX.

Empowering and equipping STEM educators

In partnership with the Ripken Foundation, we hosted a free STEM Summit in Oklahoma City for 80 educators whose schools or organizations have a Ripken STEM center donated by Devon. Educators from Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming attended continuing education sessions and networking opportunities. Activities like hands-on training on STEM products were designed to invigorate and inspire attendees to integrate STEM concepts into their lessons. Prizes distributed during the conference included a $10,000 classroom makeover.

Through Devon’s partnership with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, our signature STEM program has funded more than $4.5 million in STEM equipment to local schools in our operating areas since 2019. In the Oklahoma City area, Devon’s STEM investments improved access to educational opportunities for more than 88,000 K-12 students. In addition, these resources have included STEM training for teachers to enhance instructional time with students.

This multi-year partnership with the University of Tulsa, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball team exposes students to the science, technology, engineering and math behind their favorite sports. Launched in 2022, SportsLab uses athletics to enhance comprehension of scientific concepts like physics and velocity. The curriculum includes football, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling and women’s soccer. Students are empowered to improve their performance by better understanding the science behind sports. SportsLabs are held at game-day fan fests, as well as half-day workshops and other venues throughout the state. Our activations in 2024 included 32 pre-game labs at the three partner universities, six community labs, four campus clinics and 14 physical education (PE) takeovers at Oklahoma elementary schools with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Overall, Devon SportsLab impacted more than 2,500 students in 2024.

We’ve had a long partnership with the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose popularity and visibility help extend the reach of our STEM program. Our Devon Thunder Explorers program offers classroom activities to teachers that challenge students to develop problem-solving skills using STEM principles. Math Hoops, another partnership program, engages students with a fun basketball-inspired board game competition.

Since 2018, Devon has given fourth and fifth graders a hands-on opportunity to have fun and build STEM skills while solving problems. In 2024, the challenge was to build the playground of their dreams. Students had several weeks to plan and design, before coming together for a day at Southwestern Oklahoma State University to create their scaled model and present their designs to the community.

Devon is a long-time partner of the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma and a lead contributor to Camp Trivera, an urban STEM camp. Campers learn STEM skills, get leadership opportunities and learn the Girl Scout mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character. We created the Devon Terra Trooper patch for the Western Oklahoma Council in 2015, expanding it to southeastern New Mexico in 2020 and Tulsa in 2021. Devon geologists and engineers developed the program to engage girls in earth sciences, geology and related topics using age-appropriate STEM activity kits and leader guides. By year-end 2024, more than 2,300 girls had earned the patch for completing a STEM activity.

Devon sponsors this program with the Triple-A affiliate of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the OKC Comets, to encourage STEM education in second through fifth grade classrooms. Students from across the state are selected to receive tickets to a game and the opportunity to attend the MVP Field Day featuring STEM activities. Teachers also receive free tickets to an OKC Comets game where MVPs are honored.

This week-long SAGE camp is designed to empower girls to think about themselves as future scientists, mathematicians and computer specialists. Campers take interactive field trips to explore various Devon departments where STEM learning has led our professionals to rewarding careers. In 2024, Devon interns volunteered at the SAGE STEAM camp at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where they saw the girls’ eagerness to learn while providing guidance during the competition.

Our partnership with the Oklahoma and Wyoming FFA encourages students to consider the intersections of the agriculture and oil and gas industries. Select students and teams from both states excelled at the 2024 National FFA Convention, with more national finalists than any other states, several national champions and earned emblems in almost all of the 26 competitions.

In partnership with the Carlsbad Community Foundation, Devon sponsors a one-week STEM-focused summer camp for third through fifth graders throughout the Permian Basin region. Students identified as disadvantaged by school counselors receive free admission and the camp sells out every year. The campers are exposed to STEM-related careers, and learn how to solve problems and apply critical-thinking skills during hands-on activities.

The Paper Takes Flight activity combines the fun of hot-air ballooning with an education in the science of energy for fifth graders enrolled in Artesia, Hobbs, Carlsbad and Loving public schools in New Mexico. Students, Devon employees and Balloon Explorium representatives work together to build six-foot balloons from tissue paper and then launch the balloons using heat energy. This engaging, hands-on activity focused on engineering, math and thermodynamics expands on classroom curriculum. In 2024, more than 900 students used their STEM skills to see whose tissue paper balloon could fly the highest and stay in the air the longest.

In this annual competition, Devon pays for students to travel to Houston to present their rocket designs to a team from NASA.