Fostering Creativity

Last year, tesa entered into a new partnership with the non-profit association “Das macht Schule”. The goal: In the context of the corporate volunteering program, tesa employees become involved with Hamburg schools and together with pupils actively work to combat the renovation backlog, because even in a metropolis such as Hamburg, finances are tight. Volunteering their time and a fresh coat of paint, 50 colleagues from Consumer Marketing spruced up eight classrooms. Another 14 volunteers from the Research & Development and Industry Market Management divisions redecorated two more classrooms.

In 2011, around 1,500 school classes with in excess of 37,000 children from all over Germany took part in the “Tesalino and Tesalina” story-writing, inventing and craft competition initiated by tesa SE and Stiftung Lesen (Reading Foundation) for elementary schools and special education centers. Once again, they demonstrated a wealth of creative ideas, this time on the theme of “Tesalino & Tesalina hot on the trail through Europe”. Since its launch in 1999, the creative competition has captivated almost half a million children. The project involves a renowned author writing an exciting start to a story, which the children continue either in writing, by making things or within the scope of other creative activities.

For ten years now, tesa has championed the cause of supporting children’s reading skills in order to prepare them better for school and their later professional lives. In this regard, we are cooperating with the Hamburg-based initiative Mentor – die Leselernhelfer Hamburg e.V. Find reading enjoyment by indirect means is one way to think of the work done by the volunteer mentors. For one hour a week, the mentors take time to pass on their love of reading to children aged eight to 16 in a fun and entertaining way. For a rising number of tesa employees as well as the children, the weekly reading hour has become a fixture in their calendars. Together with their reading mentees – who often find access to books difficult – they dive into the fantasy world of stories. It’s a win-win solution for both sides: The children enjoy the undivided attention of their mentors for an hour while striving to perfect their reading skills, considered the gold standard in education, and the adults get to have fun reliving a bit of their childhoods.