National Flight Academy to Welcome First STARBASE Program Students at Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Tuesday, March 1

 

The NFA will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 7:30 a.m. to commemorate the opening day of STARBASE. Rear Adm. Kyle Cozad, President and CEO of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, and Capt. Terrence Shashaty, Commanding Officer of NAS Pensacola, are scheduled to speak. Other city and county officials are expected to be in attendance as well.

Following the ceremony, three classrooms of fifth grade students from Brentwood Elementary School will arrive at 8 a.m. to start their STARBASE classes.

STARBASE stands for Science Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation Space Exploration. Sponsored by the Department of Defense, this educational program allows fifth grade students at Title 1 schools throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties to attend classes at the National Flight Academy to learn STEM-related topics.

Title 1 is a federally funded educational program that provides supplemental funds to schools that have large concentrations of low-income students.

STARBASE Pensacola’s goal is to provide 25 hours of STEM education to 30+ fifth grade classes, or more than 1250 cadets, each year in a hands-on, minds-on, hi-tech, inquiry-based environment.

The National Flight Academy, located in Pensacola, Fla., aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, is designed to address the serious concerns of declining Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and standards in our country. The Academy’s mission is to inspire students who subsequently return to their parent schools and seek out the more challenging courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

The NFA is a self-supporting, tuition-based educational program. We welcome support from individuals, corporations and foundations for both our scholarship program and general operation funds. The National Flight Academy, a program of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation Inc., is authorized but not endorsed or funded by the U.S. Navy or U.S. Government.