DAPHNE, Ala. —The Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic branch of the Monsanto Company, Tuesday gave $5,000 to Daphne High School to help stock chemistry and biology labs.

“We are in need of more glassware for our labs, so we are going to get beakers, test tubes and flasks,” Jonathan Ling, physics teacher, said.

The school will purchase items that it hasn’t had before that would be useful, according to Ling. “We will get things like calorimeters and burets for the chemistry lab,” he said. A calorimeter is used to measure amounts of heat; a buret is a glass tube that measures small quantities of liquid or gas.

The lab will now provide a much more modern experience, according to Ling.

“The equipment purchased will … enhance the lab experience,” Ling said. “Instead of using Styrofoam cups as an insulator, students cannow use the calorimeter.”

“It’s going to benefit our students for time to come,” Principal Don Blanchard said.

The school’s new chemistry lab is actually the old chorus room; it was converted when the chorus moved its operations to Trojan Hall last spring.

“Monsanto earnestly desires to improve the quality of life in communities where we do business and our employees reside,” Dr. Gregg Dixon, Agronomy Center manager for Monsanto Company, said in a statement. “Monsanto is an agricultural biotechnology company that believes in the importance of science education for an increasingly competitive global marketplace.”

Started in 1964, the fund’s main objective is to enhance the lives of people by closing the gap between their needs and resources, according to a news release.

The fund focuses on four areas: nutritional well-being through agriculture; science education, primarily through teacher development; the environment, including conservation, biodiversity protection, clean water and wildlife habitat restoration; and improving quality of life in communities where Monsanto employees work and reside.