MERCANTILE BANK PROVIDES SCHOOL SOFTWARE PACKAGE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Mercantile Bank is offering a new educational computer software package designed to stimulate students' interest in mathematics and science to area schools.

The software, called LabQuest, will be available for the next school year, said Karen Green, marketing director with Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau.

LabQuest is being provided free of charge to all public school districts in Missouri by Mercantile Bank, through a grant to the National Business Education Alliance.

O.J. Miller, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau, said, "We at Mercantile recognize our responsibility to support quality education in our schools, as an investment in the future of the communities where we do business. this initiative is our way of demonstrating that commitment."

Green explained that each school district in the state will be provided with one LabQuest package. The software may be reproduced to fit a school's needs, she said.

The National Business Education Alliance is handling distribution of the software packages and also training for teachers. The timetable for those events has not yet been set.

Green said the program focuses on math and science because national studies show a decrease in the number of students pursuing careers in these areas.

"The National Science Foundation predicts there will be a shortage of engineers and scientists," she said. "And we are becoming a more technological society every day."

The computer program provides "real world" simulations like spread sheets and graphs.