Bismarck  (Bismarck Tribune) Hess Corporation plans to donate more than 8,000 toy trucks to North Dakota elementary schools to help incorporate science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, into classrooms.

Liberty Elementary School is the first school in the state to experiment with the new trucks. On Monday, state officials and Hess representatives visited with Marcia Dorrheim’s fourth-grade students, who had set up displays with the trucks and the accompanying ATVs and motorbikes.

The Hess toy trucks have been a Christmas staple since 1964, when the oil and gas company first sold the trucks to families.

Each year, a new model of the truck is developed. But, in 2016, Hess decided it wanted to do something different, according to Mike Turner, the company’s senior vice president of production. Hess partnered with Baylor College of Medicine to develop STEM curriculum to go along with the trucks, which is geared toward grades 4-6.

“We think STEM is a very important part of growth of any individual,” Turner said. “Also, let’s face it: We’re an oil and gas energy company, so STEM is a pretty important part of our job creation that we try to do in North Dakota.”

Turner said North Dakota is a “central hub” for Hess, with more than 500 employees in the state and a long history, as Hess drilled North Dakota’s first oil well in 1951.

“This is our home, so we want to make sure our kids learn, and if they turn into engineers and work for Hess someday, that’d be great,” he said.