1-12-2025 9:54am

STEM Education - STARBASE Holloman Staff Selected: Countdown to Launch Begins

Chris Edwards Editor

Holloman Air Force Base and the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation begins the journey of the countdown to launch of STARBASE Holloman. DoD STARBASE is a premier educational program, sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. STARBASE Holloman, an initiative of the 49th Wing Commander, is hosted by the base and administered by the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation.

At DoD STARBASE students participate in challenging "hands-on, minds-on" activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The goal of the Program is to raise the interest and improve the knowledge and skills of youth in STEM by exposing them to the technological environment and positive role models found on military bases and installations, according to the DoD.

Participating students will be provided 25 hours of STEM instruction during the 5-week program that includes dynamic learning experiences in physics, chemistry, technology, engineering, and math.

STARBASE Holloman is the 82nd STARBASE academy nationwide. It will initially focus on fifth grade students from area schools, including Alamogordo, Tularosa, Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, and Chaparral. The Program will be operated on Holloman Air Force Base in a designated building located at 749 W. New Mexico Avenue, Suite B Holloman AFB, New Mexico with a dedicated teaching staff, and students will be transported there on a weekly basis throughout the school year by the local districts. The program is open to 5th graders in public or private schools and those being homeschooled in and around the Alamogordo area.

The staff has been selected to launch the program to include Jamie Drooger, Program Instructor, Ann DeRoy, Program Director, Teresa Ferenczhalmy, Deputy Director/Program Instructor, Rebeca Valdez, Office Manager/Instructor Assistant.

Rand Corporation research suggests that the STARBASE program is quite effective on a variety of short- and long-term outcome measures, including student test scores and student reports of confidence or efficacy on STEM subjects, as well as longer-term outcomes, such as encouraging interest in technology, lowering school absences, and improving scores on standardized tests.

The DoD STARBASE Program first originated in Detroit, Michigan as Project STARS in 1991. The curriculum, designed by Barbara Koscak and Rick Simms, focused on exposing at-risk youth, (4-6 grade) to innovative hands-on activities in science, technology and mathematics based on the physics of flight. Under the guidance of Brig. Gen. David Arendts, 127th wing commander at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, students were invited to Selfridge to participate and witness the application of scientific concepts in a “real world” setting. National Guard personnel demonstrated the use of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology in their fields of expertise and served as role models to the attending students.

In 1993, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for DoD STARBASE and piloted the program in seven states. There are now locations spread across the United States and its territories and will launch locally in 2025 at Holloman AFB.

Stay tuned as the new staff finalizes and shares more details and dates of the launch plan as STARBASE Holloman blasts off as a new innovative partnership location for STEM education in the Alamogordo region.