Welcome!
Happy New Year! W elcome to the first edition of Aerospace Education, a monthly newsletter. This is a space for news about the people and programs of CAP's Aerospace Education mission.
Who receives this newsletter? All AEOs and AEMs. Monthly features will highlight Aerospace Education Officers (AEOs) and Aerospace Education Members (AEMs) and their cadets and students as they immerse themselves in AE/STEM discoveries. You are busy with the important work of inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals. This newsletter will be a tool to help you do that work.

You will meet aerospace/STEM educators (both AEOs and AEMs) and get some tips you can use in your meeting room and/or classroom. This space will also be the place to receive updates on our programs and products. A new STEM Kit becomes available? You will find out here. Registration opens or closes for one of our programs? You will be reminded here. We will help you plan.

We hope you both enjoy the newsletter and find it helpful. If you have topics you'd like to see featured or know of members we should highlight in our Member Stories (and you can tell us about yourself and your youth, too) , please let us know at ae@capnhq.gov .

THIS MONTH : ACE and STEM Kit program updates - Member stories -
Featured lesson plan - Region events update - Three things you need to know
Pictured (clockwise from top right): Quadcopter STEM Kit, ACE Program 3rd grade classroom educational item, Renewable Energy STEM Kit
PROGRAM UPDATES
CAP's ACE Program breaks attendance records
ACE : Civil Air Patrol's K-6th grade Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) Program (pictured, above left) has reached record numbers with significant increases over last school year. Registration for the 2019-20 school year opened in August and closed January 1. Final numbers are 76,323 students (49 percent increase); 1,274 teachers (39 percent increase); 515 schools (50 percent increase) and all 52 wings! To read more about the program, click the link below.
STEM Kit Program adds kit-specific lesson plans
STEM Kits : Civil Air Patrol is building lessons to accompany the STEM Kits featured in the program. As staff and volunteers develop these lesson plans, the plans are accessible in the Learning Management area of eServices. So far you can find lessons with AngLegs, Astronomy, Build and Learn Geometry, Code & Go Mouse, Flight Simulator, Hydraulic Engineering, Kano, Quadcopter, Raspberry Pi, RC Airplane, Ready-to-Fly Quadcopter, Renewable Energy, Robotics, Rocketry (pictured, above right), Snaptricity, Sphero/Mini Sphero and Weather Station. To access these plans, go to eServices > Learning Management > AXIS (at the top of the screen) > then choose Aviation, Space or Cyber. As an example, to view the lesson plan that uses the AngLegs STEM Kit, click the link below.
AEO STORY
Commander/former AEO believes in the AE mission
Capt. Natalie Hannans, commander of Georgia Wing's Rockdale County Cadet Squadron, also has served in internal and external AEO positions with her squadron. She believes in the AE mission and everything else about Civil Air Patrol. "I simply love what CAP has to offer and want everyone to know," she says. Click the link to read her story and get great tips.
"Be honest, show up and let them know you care."
-- Capt. Natalie Hannans, Georgia Wing, on working with cadets
AEM STORY
Teacher uses CAP resources to bring STEM subjects to life for kids
Holly Mentillo, who has logged 15 years as a CAP educator member, loves teaching STEM subjects to the 95 K-6th graders she leads in her Brevard, County, Florida, school. These curriculum areas allow her students to think, wonder, research and build, she says. " I remember the first time I used the Estes Rocketry STEM Kit rockets with the kids -- the first time they heard the
ssffft sound of a launch. They were spellbound."
Click the link below to read her story and get a few helpful AEM tips.
CURRICULUM
"Coming in for a Landing"
The latest Lesson of the Month is from the ACE kindergarten curriculum. All AEMs (ACE teachers and those not registered for ACE) have access to all ACE guides (K-6) on eServices in AE Downloads and Resources. Squadrons can use this lesson in school visits or teacher workshops.
Region and Wing Events
PACIFIC REGION
The Pacific Region will host an Aerospace Education/STEM Workshop in Anchorage, Alaska, in March for AEOs and AEMs. The event runs from March 11-15. A one-day AEO school is offered on the last day.
If you have Region or Wing events to share in this space, please contact ae@capnhq.gov.
Each month, this space will feature important highlights or answers to frequently asked questions. Here are three things you need to know now as an AEM or AEO.
AEMs wishing to remain as members must renew
annually; this process is free but is required
AEOs: AEMs (Aerospace Education Members) help CAP accomplish our outreach mission and can be great ambassadors for the organization. Each month a few hundred AEMs don’t renew, even though renewal is FREE! Many AEMs are unaware they must renew their membership annually, or it will expire. They are offered a free “in-kind” renewal which requires them to identify the CAP AE products and/or programs they plan to utilize during the next year of membership.

As an AEO/DAE, you’ve worked hard to recruit your AEMs, so below are a few suggestions on how to keep them with us:
 
  • Maintain contact with your AEMs to increase retention potential.
  • Locate the AEMs expiring in your wing. Go to eServices and find the “AEM Expiring Members” report in Member Reports.
  • Send AEMs an email reminding them to look for the FREE renewal email sent 60 days before membership expires.
  • Invite AEMs to participate in a TOP (Teacher Orientation Program) Flight.
  • Plan a small workshop and invite area AEMs to network with each other. An experienced AEM could assist and conduct lessons from CAP's curriculum.
  • Remind AEMs that they can connect with local squadrons for possible classroom visits and/or assistance/support.

Thanks for all you do to reach out to the educators who reach the youth of America. Your efforts could be huge for AE and CAP! If you have any questions, email ddahl@capnhq.gov.
For more tips, please visit the AEO link below.
AEMs: You will get an automated email when it is time for your annual renewal. Sometimes that email is blocked by a school system's spam programs . If you are not getting renewal emails, you can update your contact information on file with a non-school address by logging on to eServices and clicking "My Account." For more information, visit the AEM link below.
Save the date: 2020 National AEO School will be June 15-19
The dates are set for National Aerospace Education Officers School June 15-19 at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. AEOs and AEMs are invited. Registration will open soon for the event, which features hands-on activities, field trips and the opportunity to network. Course work for AEOs begins Day 1, June 15, at noon. Sessions for AEOs and AEMs begin June 16. To see a video of last year's school and get information, please follow the link below. Bookmark the link. When registration information becomes available, it will be placed at the link below, as well.
CAP's educator members can get one TOP Flight per year
All educator members are eligible to take one Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) Flight per year. Tom Hines, STEM advisor at Jackson High School in Jackson, Michigan, takes the yoke alongside Lt. Jon Steeby, a Michigan Wing pilot (pictured at right). Find out more about the program by clicking the link below.