Colleagues in Seoul organized a collection for disaster relief supplies to send to Sokcho after a massive wildfire ripped through this city on South Korea’s mountainous northern coast, destroying 135 homes and forcing more than 4,000 to flee. Donations included towels, clothes, first aid, chargers, diapers, and canned food.

Bentley colleagues in Pune, India aided students and their schools to achieve better infrastructure. Eight schools under “Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, Kurundwad” received benches after the schools were affected by the flood and were submerged underwater for more than 15 days. Bentley also donated water purifiers to Vatsalatai Patil Girls High School and to Gargoti High School, Gargoti. Colleagues felt proud that they could help 1,000 students, who now are able to drink pure water.

Bentley colleagues visited a Nepalese school that has received STEM grant donations from many Bentley colleagues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The grant money helped in rebuilding after part of it was destroyed by earthquakes, an event that impacted more than 800 students; building a science lab to provide access to tools and equipment that never existed before; and educating more girls and impacting all students through various STEM-related programs, like a robotics team.

Colleagues in Mumbai planted 30 saplings to help the go green effort. Together with the NGO Hariyali, colleagues planted the trees in Navi Mumbai.

CASA of Madison County makes it possible to install wheelchair ramps in homes across Madison County for individuals unable to leave their homes, allowing them to remain safe and independent. Over the years, Bentley colleagues have volunteered to construct and assemble the ramps.

Colleagues in Exton, Pennsylvania participate annually in an Adopt-A-Kid holiday program, sponsored by the Delaware Valley Children’s Charity. The program provides gifts for less fortunate children during the holiday season. For the second year in a row, we adopted 100 children. This was our 20th year participating in this program.

Through the Bridges to Prosperity organization, Bentley colleagues helped build a 45-meter suspension bridge that connected two sides of rural Rwanda. Many residents lost their lives in the last decade during monsoon season trying to cross over the water, making this bridge important. It also creates a safe passage for children to travel from their homes to their school.

Many of our Lithuanian colleagues have chosen to support “Design. Engineer. Construct! Lithuania.” This program allows students to test their tech skills, engineering minds, and creativity, flexibility, teamwork, and communication skills. This year, 13 teams of students had to create a hotel for James Bond, receiving feedback from professionals in the tech industry. This funding allows Kaunas University of Technology to prepare teachers with learning materials and training, as well as software installation in schools, organizing opening and graduation events, and providing prizes for outstanding students.

With financial support from Bentley’s STEM grant program, the Govt. Higher Secondary School in Gaggoo Mandi, Pakistan installed a submersible water pump and constructed an overhead storage tank. The school had faced challenges with water storage problem in the extreme summer temperatures, which reach 50 °C (around 125 °F). With Bentley’s support, they also installed a water turbine and constructed a turbine room, added two rooms under the overhead tank, and built a first aid room, which will benefit around 1,000 students.

Bentley colleagues donated to a Govt. College of Women in their native village of Gaggoo in Punjab, Pakistan. The college did not have a clean water system, so the students drank contaminated water, resulting in health issues. Additionally, the college had a computer lab with only four out-of-date systems for 600 students. There were not enough benches, so the students had to sit on the floor during classes. The school now has a submersible water pump, a water room with electric coolers, security cameras, and street lights. The computer lab was updated to include 20 new computer systems, a printer and scanner, a projector, 100 student chairs, and 60 sitting stools with staff furniture.

In Quebec City, colleagues became a silver partner for the contest Défi LCDF. They allocated their STEM grant to help Le Code des Filles buy technology products, such as 3D printers, which are lent to the winning schools that participate in the contest. Schools must accumulate coding hours by participating in activities in various IT-related learning workshops. This year, Bentley sponsored l’École Secondaire De Rochebelle and provided education on what we do at Bentley, as well as an introduction to artificial intelligence. And best of all, l’École Secondaire De Rochebelle won the contest! As their teacher said, “Le rêve!” – The dream!

Colleagues in Bentley China jointly organized the China STEM program – Be an Online Teacher, with a local not-for-profit organization, Share the Care. Bentley sponsored online class equipment for Tibetan students in Qinghai Chengduo County Wenle Center Boarding School, and 23 colleagues volunteered to give Tibetan students three-month online learning to help broaden their horizons and gain more knowledge of STEM. Some of the students now aspire to be engineers, scientists, or teachers to help the world’s infrastructure and environment in the future.

Future City is a leading engineering education program and competition that engages more than 45,000 middle school students throughout the United States and abroad to imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. Students repeatedly report that the program increases their motivation and excitement about STEM. Bentley has been involved for over 25 years and not only sponsors the finals and the first-place prize (which includes sending the winning team to space camp) but also provides mentors for several teams and judges for regionals and finals.