ESTE2AM: Equipping Students and Teachers in Entrepreneurial, Engineering,
and Aerospace Modalities.
In 2019, Principal Investigator, Shawna Christenson, received a grant from Florida Space Grant Consortium at UCF. The grant sought to provide stipends for Title I/public school teachers.
Teachers from Palm Beach County School District attended the week-long summer camp held in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. The grant further allowed these teachers to bring ten of their own Title I students to attend the concurrent ACES camp. Participating teachers were taught about the importance of connecting industry to academia, to form industry and professional contacts, and to see themselves not just as teachers of content but rather as professionals within their content area fields. Participants who continued the program after the school year completed received a follow up stipend with the goal of helping teachers to either form or augment and STEM related club at their school.
The week-long camp was followed up with a one day weekend camp to allow more participation. The PI will seek to extend this grant due to teacher recruitment issues and Covid-19 related challenges.