DAYTON, Ohio and NEW YORK -

Education efforts received a helping hand last week,  as both the Reynolds and Reynolds Co. and the Toyota USA Foundation reached out to students with recent endeavors.

Reynolds and Reynolds has announced its provision of more than 50 merit scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year, to students attending colleges in the U.S. and Canada.

With a combined value of nearly $130,000, the scholarships are funded by the Reynolds and Reynolds Co. Foundation, which has offered support for higher education and merit scholarships for the past 25 years.

“We take a great deal of pride in directing the Foundation’s support to higher education and especially to scholarships,” said Robert Burnett, a Foundation trustee and vice president of corporate development at Reynolds and Reynolds.

“It’s a direct way to help high-achieving students reach their goals for a college education. At the same time, as these students return to their communities to live and work, all of us will benefit from having these accomplished and talented young adults in our midst,” Burnett said.

Most of the Reynolds scholarships for 2012-13 will go to children of Reynolds’ associates, via a longstanding program of honor scholarships for undergraduate study, the Foundation said.

The educational funding also supports the Reynolds and Reynolds Leadership Scholars Program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, for students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Additionally, the dollars fund scholarships for students attending Wright State University’s Lake Campus in Grand Lake St. Mary’s, Ohio, and at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Reynolds operates major facilities in both of these locations.

Toyota Announces Grants

Meanwhile, the Toyota USA Foundation this week announced its funding of more than $1.3 million in new grants for K-12 education.

The grant money will support innovative K-12 math, science, engineering and environmental science education programs, the Foundation said, with a focus on underserved communities.

Toyota USA Foundation places a high priority on programs valuing diversity and interdisciplinary learning in making its grant decisions, the Foundation reported, and focuses on cost-effective programs that help students and educators develop their abilities.

The new 2012 grant recipients are:

American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Food for Thought- Feeding Young Minds with STEM Enrichment, offering interactive science workshops;
American University, Lab2Class, for scientists wishing to transfer into teaching;
California State University Bakersfield Foundation, Families for STEM, to increase graduates from STEM fields;
Colorado Seminary, University of Denver, Kids Play Math, teaching mathematics skills;
Fremont Education Foundation, Education, Challenge, Inspire, providing math teaching kits plus science lab equipment;
Mills College, Lesson Study, improving elementary mathematics instruction;
Mobile Area Education Foundation, Engaging Youth through Engineering, expanding STEM curricula to more schools; and
O’Neill Sea Odyssey, Community Oceanography Program, offering studies in ocean science and environmental conservation.

These new grants, combined with more than $3.8 million in multi-year commitments, total more than $5 million that the Toyota Foundation has disbursed to nonprofit organizations this year.

“We are proud to support these organizations and educational institutions, and to help further the important work they are doing to help our country’s young people excel in mathematics, science, engineering and environmental science,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, group vice president of national philanthropy and the Toyota USA Foundation at Toyota Motor North America.

“Toyota is deeply committed to supporting the next generation of America’s leaders in these critical fields, and we look forward to seeing each of these programs, and the students and teachers they serve, make an even bigger impact in the years ahead," she added.