This month, we celebrate Women's History Month. CAP's Aerospace Education publication library includes two volumes of Women in Aviation, featuring some of the contributions women have made to the field of aviation and aerospace since the beginning of the 20th century. As a resource for AEOs and AEMs in squadrons and classrooms, we also have a Women's History Lessons page on our website that highlights accomplishments of women who are pioneers in aerospace/STEM fields.
Our curriculum focus this month features one of those lessons on Rhea Seddon, one of the first six women accepted into the Astronaut Corps in 1978.
Also we are pleased to announce registration details for the 2022 National AEO School, which will be held in-person June 27-July 1 in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Check out all the details below.
Our member story this month highlights an educator from Arizona. If you know of other outstanding member stories of AEOs or AEMs, we hope you will reach out to us at ae@capnhq.gov. Your story could be the next one told!
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THIS MONTH: Member story - Program updates - Award - AE Safety Check - Events - Curriculum - Important things to know
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PROGRAM UPDATES
ACE award nominations for 2021-2022 due soon
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It’s that time of year! Time to highlight excellence in schools, teachers and students. We are accepting award nominations for National ACE Teacher of the Year, National ACE Student of the Year and National ACE School of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year. Nomination forms can be found by clicking HERE. Look on the right side of the screen under Related Links to download each form.
And…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!
And if you aren't a part of ACE yet, it's not too late to join for the 2021-2022 school year. Registration closes March 31.
Sue Mercer
ACE Program Manager
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CAP's ACE Plus adopt program |
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Any 5th- 8th grade teachers involved in the ACE program can request to be “adopted” by a local CAP squadron with the adult and cadet members teaching lessons and sharing demonstrations with the students. By “adopting” a classroom, the CAP squadron members can help teachers perpetuate a stronger interest in aviation-related STEM subjects and careers. (Pictured, students of AEM Lisa Medlyn -- this month's AEM Story feature -- work with Arizona Wing's 388th Composite squadron members.)
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Civil Air Patrol AE STEM Kit Program |
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FEATURED STEM KIT - BRIDGE BUILDING: The Bridge Building pack contains enough materials for 24 cadets/students to build and test their very own bridges. While working on this kit, cadets/students will be challenged to design structurally sound bridges while using problem solving skills to implement changes in their design. Cadets/students will study the properties of physics and its place in structural engineering.
This kit comes with 360 pieces of Basswood, 24 bottles of glue, 24 sets of instructions and a Teacher’s guide -- Teaching with Model Bridge Building Programs. A DVD also will be included that follows a class throughout the bridge-building process. This kit, recommended for ages 9 and older, is perfect for young architects and engineers to design the bridges of the future.
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It's time to take teachers out of the classroom
and into the sky with a TOP Flight
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The beautiful spring weather brings blue skies and opportunities to fly for any CAP member who is a teacher! Taking a flight in a CAP airplane at a local airport allows the teachers to fly over their schools, video the flight experience to share with students and connect the dots between STEM concepts and aviation principles. Any teacher can reach out to their state’s Director of Aerospace Education and request a flight -- alone or with another teacher -- with the teachers even getting to take the controls in air! Questions? Contact ae@capnhq.gov.
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CAP's Annual National Cadet STEM Challenge |
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Following a successful inaugural 2021 National High-Altitude Balloon Challenge, the program has lifted off for the 2022 event! Last year, 139 squadron teams tried out the program, and this year the program is open to any interested composite or cadet squadron -- at no cost to the squadron. The teams will develop as many science experiments as will fit in a 40 ml test tube weighing not more than 50 g, which will be launched to 100,000 feet in August as payloads of high-altitude weather balloons. Winning teams will earn squadron grants, and the top team will receive a $5,000 prize, a trip to Orlando to meet the benefactor of the prize, Col. Joe Kittinger (famed high-altitude balloon scientist), and the Kittinger Cup.
Find out all details, to include last year’s winners, schedule and registration link HERE. Questions? Contact hab@capnhq.gov.
Click HERE to register! See a short time-lapse video of last year’s launch HERE.
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Registration for the 2022 National AEO School will open Tuesday, March 22
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The 19th Annual CAP National Aerospace Education Officers School is open to Aerospace Education Officers (AEOs). The school will be held on Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. Presentations, hands-on activities, field trips and networking opportunities highlight the week.
Where: Cocoa Beach, Florida
When: Monday, June 27- Friday, July 1
Please follow the link below to get more information and to register. See a video from a previous AEO school here.
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(Welcome to AE Safety Check! These safety nuggets 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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SAFETY WITH REMOTE-CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT
Are you using the Remote-Controlled Aircraft (RCA) STEM Kit? This particular aircraft is hand-launched (pictured). That does NOT mean that the landing is performed the same way. Catching an RCA during landing, while the propeller is spinning, creates a hazard that could result in bodily injury – an injury that could be easily avoided by allowing the aircraft to land on the ground as intended. For this STEM kit, as well as some of the others, always be aware of the exposed, moving parts that can cause serious injury and/or damage.
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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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AEM STORY
Arizona AEM uses CAP programs in after-school STEM club
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Meet Lisa Medlyn, an AEM in Arizona Wing. Her son, C/SrA Nathan Medlyn, is a cadet in Civil Air Patrol's 388th Composite Squadron. "My son's interest in CAP has spiked my interest in organizing an after-school program that might interest students in STEM," she says. She has only been an AEM for one year, but has embraced it by forming an after-school CAP Club (pictured) for grades 5-8 and participating in the ACE and ACE Plus programs. The latter connects squadrons with classrooms, and her students are working with her son's squadron. She started a career in education because she was working as an interpreter for hearing impaired students. She also was inspired to teach because she has a daughter with autism. "These experiences have led me to working in education," she says. "I stay in education because of the kids. While work can be challenging -- especially during a pandemic -- my students are the reason I show up each day." Click the link below to read her story.
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"The ACE Plus program has had the greatest impact on my students. I now have girls and boys talking about becoming engineers when they grow up."
-- Lisa Medlyn, Arizona AEM
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CURRICULUM SPOTLIGHT
Rhea Seddon
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March is Women's History Month. CAP's Women in Aviation books (Volumes I and II) provide an introduction to and historical account of the contributions women have made to the field of aviation and aerospace since the beginning of the 20th century. One of these pioneers is astronaut Rhea Seddon, one of the first six women accepted into the Astronaut Corps in 1978. Dr. Seddon, also a surgeon, served on three Space Shuttle missions and spent 19 years with NASA. In this lesson, cadets and students will learn Seddon's story and research how toys and sports activities respond in space. Additionally, they will build a model of a satellite. The lesson is Chapter 9 in Women in Aviation Volume II. Or click below to go straight to the lesson.
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Each month, this space features important highlights or answers to frequently asked questions. Here are three things you need to know now as an AEM or AEO.
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You can update your eServices profile information. Here's how: |
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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? |
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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. Thinking that due to the pandemic you cannot participate in CAP’s AE programs? That may be partly true, but when we get back to “normal,” you will wish you kept your membership current, so do not let it expire!
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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. And, we wish to encourage our AEMs to “hang on” until the end of the pandemic and continue renewing their membership. Once things are back to “normal,” they will be glad they did!
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Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Education
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