Civil Air Patrol Assist New Orleans Naval Air Station in Launching K-12 Students into the 21st Century

NEW ORLEANS- Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans held a challenge for the K-12 grade students that live and go to school on the base July  23-26 by introducing them to the Navy STEM and S2M2 Programs. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and S2M2 for Science, Service, Medicine and Mentoring. The children experienced real life applications of math and science principles through hands on practical learning with highly skilled volunteer mentors.

Members of the U.S. Navy, Marines, National Guard, Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol (CAP), Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) and volunteers from families that live on or work on the base participated in the special event. The program was base wide with various age appropriate programs at different locations on the base. All of the programs help to increase student interest in school, math, science, engineering, problem solving, setting and achieving positive goals and teamwork.
Navy Lieutenant Arthur Castro, who is also a member of the CAP Alvin Callender Squadron, played a major Navy role in the STEM Program as the Navy Flight Line Static Display Coordinator. He guided the children through a tour of four different types of aircraft, and an emergency services exhibit with the base fire department and ambulance services. Castro explained the use of STEM through examples of different careers and settings depending on the various aircraft and importance of safe, quality and by the book maintenance of the aircraft. Castro said” The event went very well as planned and that there were plenty smiles on all of the children’s faces!”

CAP’s Alvin Callender Composite Squadron, located on the base and CAP Pontchartrain Composite Squadron from Harahan, La. supported the Summer Blitz Day, Thursday, with exhibits and presentations on Aerospace Education, Cadet Programs, Drug Demand Reduction, Emergency Services, Search and Rescue, and the new CAP Robotics Programs.

CAP’s Louisiana Wing Director of Robotics, Lieutenant Colonel Kathy Beauford, was honored to be the guest speaker to kick off the First Robotics and the Lego Robotics Competition. Using the CAP robot as an example Beauford explained the basics of the robots, programming and controlling the robots to give the parents and children a better idea of the technical, engineering, mathematical and computing challenges the competing teams had faced and overcame. Colonel Beauford said “I was most impressed with the children’s eagerness to learn and their outstanding behavior!”

Colonel Beauford had a scale model of one Cap's rare aircraft, a Cessna 182 that was a major hit with the kids when they found out that they could fly in aircraft like it upon becoming a member of CAP Beauford had books and booklets on aerospace and astronomy, NASA bookmarks for the children and the robot to see.

Medicine and health was a major topic under the S2M2 portion of the event, and had multiple training opportunities for the parents and children daily such as diet, obesity, sleep, exercise, health disparities, first responder basics, research, brochures and presentations. Then the students learned about medical equipment and tools such as laparoscopic drills, and even learned how to dissect eyeballs!

With Medicine and health a serious topic, CAP’s Pontchartrain Squadron, Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) Program exhibit on drug abuse was a wealth of information on the dangers of drug abuse, diversion, detection and prevention of alcohol, drugs, both prescription and illegal, and tobacco. CAP gave out DDR backpacks which everyone could fill with DDR bookmarks, pens, and pamphlets on the most abused drugs, booklets for teens, parents, educators, and posters.

CAP also gave out recruiting brochures, copies of the latest issue of the bi-monthly CAP Magazine Volunteer Now and other assorted CAP information. The CAP Louisiana Wing Public Affairs Officer Captain John Wigginton said “CAP was honored to have the opportunity to serve in this STEM/ S2M2 Program this first year of the event at the New Orleans Base and was proud to watch the children having so much fun while learning so many new things.”

” Navy Lieutenant Lori Campbell the base STEM/S2M2 Program Coordinator said “I am very impressed with the large exhibit and amount and quality of the handouts we gave the families. Campbell extended an invitation to CAP to participate again each year that the New Orleans Base holds the STEM/S2M2 Program.”

The children learned a lot of new things that hopefully will inspire and motivate the children to reach theirhighest dreams. All had a great deal of fun and ended the event with a cookout and Lunch on the Lawn with the Navy Band providing music. After their lunch the program ended with an awards and presentations ceremony at the school gym.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 54 lives in fiscal year 2011. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to nearly 27,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 70 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com for more info