May 2025: Aerospace Education Council Update

It’s springtime, and you know what that means: It’s time to get your National Teacher of the Year (TOY) submissions in. AFA CyberCamps are ramping up around the country. AFJROTC and AFROTC award presentations are wrapping up. And it’s time to get ready for the National Convention! 

Let me take a moment to reflect on events I’ve been involved with over the past few weeks, and some things that our AFA superstars have done. First, I had the pleasure of attending the StellarXplorers finals in Denver. What an experience! I was thoroughly impressed with the professionalism these high school students displayed during their presentations, and I was in awe of the fact that we have teens interested in these activities. They had eight hours to come up with a plan to launch a space mission to another planet to collect data. They had to consider all the things someone in our U.S. Space Force would need to consider such as the type of launch vehicle, payload weights, equipment to use, etc. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and getting a photo op with two of the competitors from the winning team from Troy High School JNROTC who have some special bragging rights. Not only were they on this year’s first place StellarXplorers team, two years ago they were on the winning CyberPatriot team! Not sure anyone else can claim that. It was also impressive to note that when members of the winning team were asked what they wished to pursue after high school, they were all interested in pursuing technical degrees, and four of the six wish to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. Future Airmen and Guardians!

Another event was the Teacher’s Air STEM Camp held again this year at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and hosted by AFA’s Tucson Chapter. Three of our national Teachers of the Year worked to build and execute a superb program that included excellent guest speakers. There were 25 teachers in attendance, including one who flew in from the state of Washington. One of my goals during my tenure is to clone this event, which is something that chapters can host at other locations across the country. 

Regards from South Texas,

Gary Copsey
AFA Vice Chair for Education