STEM Flights
Introduction
STEM Flights is a nonprofit organization that connects Middle and High School students with volunteer pilots, to learn about STEM in the aeronautics context, through flying experience.
The program aims to inspire the youth providing practical applications of STEM principles, encouraging the interest in aviation and related fields. By partnering with experienced pilots, all over United States and some regions of Canada, STEM Flights offers students the opportunity to learn about flight principals, develop critical thinking skills, and envision future careers in the aviation.
This initiative is dedicated to empowering the next generation, not just to increase the workforce, but promoting de diversity, providing opportunities for underrepresented minorities.
Purpose of the best practice/guidance
This project stands out for democratizing access to flying experience. In a historically elite sector such as aviation, allowing young people from different financial realities and backgrounds to have practical experience inside an aircraft, learn from experienced professionals and visualize a possible path within the STEM areas, makes the initiative stand out.
Beyond that, the initiative model is relatively simple and sustainable. By relying on the voluntary engagement of pilots who wish to give back to the community, the project creates a cyclical support network, where the community itself inspires, forms and accompanies.
Intended audience
STEM Flights offers the experience to elementary and high school students who are interested in careers in aviation, especially as pilots. Although this is the main target audience, there are other groups of people involved in the initiative that need to be reached, such as volunteer pilots, who donate their time to the cause, and teachers/educators, whose mission is to promote this project to reach as many young people as possible.
Description
The program works in defined steps that combine theory and practice in a simple way. The journey begins with student registration, through the organization’s official website. To participate, the student must have a letter of recommendation from a responsible adult, such as a teacher, highlighting their interest and commitment to the opportunity. After this first stage, the student chooses an online “mission” with themes linked to the aeronautical universe, such as aerodynamics, meteorology or air navigation. This theoretical content prepares the student for the practical experience that will follow.
After completing the online mission, the student is paired with a local volunteer pilot, called a “Flight Mentor.” These mentors are volunteer pilots who donate their time and even their own aircraft to provide an experience for young people.
Flights take place in a controlled environment, valuing safety and learning. During the flight, students can experience the concepts studied, observe instruments, follow routes, understand weather conditions and even try out the controls, always under the supervision of the mentor pilot.
After the flight experience, the student is encouraged to continue learning through the “STEM Flight Following” program, which offers continuous monitoring of the participant, promoting guidance for technical courses, college recommendations and new opportunities in the STEM area.
Impacts / Outcomes
The STEM Flights project generates a series of impacts that go beyond the flight itself, such as:
Encouraging interest in STEM careers: By offering practical experiences, the project encourages the search for STEM and applied science areas.
Inclusion of students from diverse communities: STEM Flights embraces young people from different social, ethnic and geographic backgrounds. Contributing to the diversification of talent in aviation, promoting greater equity and accessibility to historically elite sectors.
Practical learning: The connection between theory and practice makes students learn better, as they assimilate concepts with the real context of a flight, increasing motivation, performance and engagement with studies.
Strengthening support networks: Volunteer pilots work as mentors and create positive bonds with students. This connection also opens doors to future contacts, recommendations and professional paths.
Impact on the aeronautical community: By involving active pilots in an educational cause, the project promotes a sense of purpose in the aeronautical community, which is often left aside over time, making the exchange of experiences enriching for volunteers as well.
Lessons learned
One of the NGO’s standout lessons is to give students the chance to live what they study, literally flying, making the content studied stop being abstract and start having real meaning.
Another point is that access to opportunities needs to be built on inclusion. STEM Flights shows that by removing financial and geographic barriers, it is possible to reach talent that often would not have exposure to the sector otherwise.
The connection between those who dream and those who already experience the market also creates a cycle of appreciation and belonging that is difficult to achieve in common educational environments.
Finally, STEM Flights shows how well-structured initiatives have an impact on transforming lives with few financial resources, but a lot of human capital, showing the world that the same model adopted by the NGO can be implemented in other countries.
Web link
https://www.stemflights.org/
Contact
stemedu@stemflights.org
Authors and Contributors
Carley Walker – Director of Development
Austin Campbell – Director of Flight Operations
Maria Hoxmeier – Director of Education