AEROSPACE ACADEMY AT FRESNO STATE UNIVERSITY

By: Monet Schlotterbeck

         The Aerospace Academy is a special program offered under the umbrella of Fresno State’s Youth Technology Institute to increase interest and involvement of K-12 students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

      Fresno State is only one of nine institutions nationwide that was offered a prestigious grant by NASA. The grant allows undergraduate students, who have plans to be future teachers, to gain experience in teaching STEM and providing an outlet for young kids interested in technology.

     Dr. Steve Price is the Director of Community Based Learning at the Kremen School at Fresno State.

“We ran a pre-service teacher institute there in the summers starting in 2004,” Price said, explaining how the Youth Technology Institute came to fruition. “We took undergraduates from Fresno State and other State universities over for a two week residential program, and then we learned more about NASA funding, and we got interested in doing exciting STEM things ourselves.”

      The Aerospace Academy offers many NASA-themed curricula to expose kids to various fields in technology such as Chem4Kids, coding, underwater robotics, and drones.

     Kasey Vang is the Program Coordinator for Community Based Learning and the P.I. for the Aerospace Academy at Fresno State. She says there is a strong family component involved in the program to further instill in kids the necessary motivation to have an interest in STEM.

“We do family nights at schools to make it kind of fun so that the parents and the students are both in it together,” Vang said. “And we all know when the parents are involved, they’re more successful in education.”