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This month is National Volunteer Month, and we salute all Civil Air Patrol volunteers! Thank you for all you do! (Pictured, Arizona Wing TOP Flight, above, and Texas Wing TOP Flight, right). Teachers, find out how to take your flight in a CAP aircraft in this month's issue.
An event that features the service of all three missions (Aerospace Education, Cadet Programs and Emergency Services), the 3rd annual National AE High-Altitude Balloon Challenge for Cadets, continues registration. The deadline is May 22, and find all the details in this newsletter.
AEOs have another deadline approaching in June, when the application is due for AFA CAP Unit Grants to support your AE activities. Read on for full information.
April means the end of the school year is approaching, and ACE registration is closed for 2022-2023. The program set amazing participation records, scroll down for the final totals!
And finally, our member story this month highlights a member from Florida.
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THIS MONTH: Program updates - AE Safety Check - Member Story - Curriculum - Important things to know | |
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PROGRAM UPDATESROGRAM UPDATES
ACE 2022-2023 -- It's a record-breaking year!
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CAP's Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) has once again topped previous records for participation! In the 2022-2023 school year, 97,911 students have explored aerospace and STEM education through this K-6 grade program.
The final totals are:
Students: 97,911
Teachers: 607
Schools: 525
Don’t forget to submit your ACE Completion Report this year. Your feedback will help us in editing and reevaluating the program for next year. Click HERE to go directly to the Online ACE Completion Form. Make sure to have your CAPID# and password handy so that you can log into eServices.
Thanks for all that you do and for making your FACE a part of ACE this year! See you in August!
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High-Altitude Balloon Challenge for Cadets |  | |
Has YOUR squadron registered for the HAB Challenge for this year?
Registration closes on May 22, and we hope that YOUR squadron can gather a team of two or more cadets to participate in the 3rd annual event -- at no cost to the squadron. The squadron commander or AEO should coordinate registration for ONE team per squadron.
Squadrons can vie for the Kittinger Cup and $5,000 grand prize while having a fun (and educational) time putting experiments together to launch to the edge of space. There are other engaging aspects of the Challenge with other awards, to include mission patch design, science experiment slide designs, and video production.
If there is local community support available for your squadron’s collaboration, that would truly enhance the cadets’ overall participation experience. Such collaborative support could come from a local university, any STEM-related industry in your area, an area school that does HAB programs, a CAP Senior Squadron with related expertise, or even an organization associated with space science or weather balloons.
To find out all details, go to the HAB Challenge page HERE. (See last year’s winners in the right column.)
Read the CAP.NEWS article about the program HERE.
Commander or AEO, click the link below to register.
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AFA grants for Civil Air Patrol units | |
Funding for CAP Unit Grants has been generously restored by CAP partner in aerospace/STEM education, the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA).
Note the new AFA name and logo which embraces both USAF Airmen and U.S. Space Force Guardians.
CAP AE officers can now submit applications for a $250 grant to promote AE and STEM within their cadet or composite units. If the squadron desires to also share their project with youth outside the squadron, that is a plus!
Grants can fund aerospace field trips, STEM outreach events, or equipment/materials for special STEM projects.
Applications are due by midnight (applicant’s time zone) June 30. The application is found HERE. The grant competition will result in STEM projects being funded for competitively-selected units. All applicants will be notified by the end of July whether or not the project was selected to be funded.
All details are found at the link below.
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Teachers: It's time to take YOUR CAP flight | |
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Each member of CAP who is a teacher can take a flight at their local airport with a CAP pilot in a CAP airplane. Teachers can fly over their school and community and share the experience with their students. Pilots will help the teachers connect principles of flight with the STEM concepts they are teaching, and allow them to take the controls and fly the plane!
Teachers should contact their state’s Director of Aerospace Education (see list HERE) to coordinate their flight.
See Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) flight page.
(Photo courtesy of Jordan Taylor Mathis.)
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CAP members can receive rocketry supply discounts | |
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AC Supply Co., which supplies rocketry items, has a coupon code on its website (acsupplyco.com) for buyers to receive the best prices. To use the code:
1. Log into your account or create an account and log in. (You must be logged into your account for the coupon code to work.)
2. Go shopping and place items in your cart.
3. Click on your shopping cart to the right of the white search bar.
4. Click "View Cart."
5. Once you are in your shopping cart, scroll down to "Use Coupon Code" and click it.
6. Enter code CAP5 where it says "Enter your coupon code here." (This code is case sensitive.)
7. Click "Apply Coupon."
The CAP discount is not automatic, the purchaser MUST request it.
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(Welcome to AE Safety Check! These safety tips are things to think about as you lead or participate in an Aerospace Education activity. The writer of this monthly feature is Lt. Col. Karen Cooper, who works in safety and risk management on the AE National Headquarters Staff and is also the Northeast Region DCS/Aerospace Education.) | |
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THE IMPORTANCE OF A FIRST-AID KIT
Quick – do you know where the first aid kit is? What do you do if you get a minor cut, or something similar, during an AE class? After checking the person who was injured to make sure it is not something more serious, notify the member in charge of the AE lesson and begin first aid. Have your Wingman or class partner secure your workstation (unplug the hot glue gun, secure the sharp implements like X-Acto knives, etc.). And most of all – follow the directions you are given so that a minor injury does not become a major issue.
So here is your homework – find that first-aid kit at your squadron!
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If you have a safety topic you would like to be included in this space, please email kcooper@ner.cap.gov. | |
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TEACHERS, CHECK OUT THIS RESOURCE
Engineering Tomorrow offers FREE virtual engineering labs for HS classes (free kits Included). The lessons are taught by professional engineers and delivered live (via Zoom) or recorded. Interested? Visit the website: www.engineeringtomorrow.org Email contact: constance.chiplock@engineeringtomorrow.org
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CURRICULUM SPOTLIGHT
Wing Ratios
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In this lesson, part of CAP's ACE program, students will review the forces of flight and Bernoulli's principle. They will calculate areas and ratios and determine which wings with given dimensions produce less drag. The lesson is Academic Lesson #3 in Aerospace Connections in Education Grade 6 Instructor Guide or find it here.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo of the Thunderbirds team by Staff Sgt. Dakota Carter
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AEM STORY
AFJROTC instructor brings 'real life' moments into aerospace science classroom
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Meet Howard D. Hardison, MSgt, USAF (Retired). He is the Air Force Junior ROTC (AFJROTC) and Aerospace Science Instructor (ASI) at Amos P. Godby High School, a public, Title I school in Tallahassee, Florida. After a 25-year military career, Sgt. Hardison has been an educator for four years and a CAP Aerospace Educator Member (AEM) for one year. In the Air Force, he worked in Command Centers or Command Post. He was deployed overseas in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom. His interest in AFJROTC started 10 years before his retirement while volunteering at two high schools when stationed in New York and North Dakota. He continues to love AFJROTC instruction. "I like to always give real-life applications to curriculum taught -- hands on as much as possible," he says of his teaching philosophy. "If there is a 'case in point' or a 'for example' moment with anything I teach, I always use it. Nothing is better than those 'real life' moments (good or bad) for the students to see and hear about." One example of his bringing "real life into the classroom" came recently with teaching weather and using CAP's Weather Station STEM Kit. While studying weather and using the kit, his classes reached out to two local TV meteorologists, who visited the students. "Again, having people of various careers be guest speakers gives our Cadets the ability to see all the career opportunities available to them," he says. Click the link below to read the full story.
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"We used the AcuRite Weather Station to teach them how to read weather. After lessons about weather and learning how to use the weather station, we established a 'Weather Team,' and before each class that person would brief what the current weather was."
-- Howard D. Hardison, MSgt USAF (Retired)
Florida AEM
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Each month, this space features important highlights or answers to frequently asked questions. Here are four things you need to know as an AEM or AEO. | |
AEOs and AEMs: STEM Kits are not limited to one per year | |
AEOs and AEMs, there are no restrictions on the number of STEM Kits you can apply for within a fiscal or school year. Once you have received your STEM Kit, used it for a minimum of six hours and turned in a STEM Kit evaluation, you are eligible to apply for your next kit for your cadets or students. For full information on the program process, click the link below. Have questions? Email stem@capnhq.gov. | |
You can update your eServices profile information. Here's how: | |
Sign into eServices and click on your name in the top right hand corner. Update your email address, mailing address, contact numbers, etc. This ensures you receive timely and pertinent information from CAP. If you are a teacher, ensure your primary email address is your home and your secondary email address is your school so that your annual renewal email and any other important information will not end up as spam in your school email account.
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AEMs: Is it time to renew your membership? | |
All Aerospace Education Members (AEMs) are offered an annual FREE “in-kind renewal." The online renewal email is sent 60 days prior to the membership expiration date. A renewal banner appears at the top of the eServices sign-in page 90 days prior to expiring. (You can’t renew earlier than 90 days.) Find additional information at the link below. | |
AEOs: Reach out to AEMs whose memberships expire soon | |
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AEOs, this is the perfect time to reach out to your AEMs whose memberships expire within 60 days or whose memberships have expired. For more guidance, see Recruiting and Retention of AEMs on the AEO Resources page link below.
Please note: CAP has several categories of membership, but each member can only be assigned one category of membership. Any adult uniformed member, who is an educator, may access all the resources available to an AEM.
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