July 2025: Aerospace Education Council Update

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Independence Day. Here in South Texas, we are mourning the loss of more than 100 people in the epic flooding that occurred on the Guadalupe River. Locally, military organizations such as the VFW and American Legion have poured many hours of support into helping those affected. Please keep the families in your prayers.

Some important updates regarding our aerospace education awards:

Teacher of the Year

We had 16 National Teacher of the Year submissions this year, so there was certainly some great competition! Our committee met, and we should hear the results shortly.

2025 Buckwalter Distinguished Sustained Aerospace Education Achievement Award

I am very pleased to announce that this year’s winner is our education council’s very own Stephen Gourley. Stephen was awarded for his work not only with the education council, but as a founder of the StellarXplorers program—well deserved!

2025 Chairman’s Award for Distinguished Aerospace Education Achievement

Brig. Gen. Dan Woodward, USAF (Ret.) was awarded for his exceptional leadership and vision with the Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings as its Executive Director for the past 11 years. I was very encouraged to see the number of chapters qualifying for the AE Excellence and AE Achievement Awards. 

In June I had the great pleasure of traveling to Fort Leslie J. McNair in Washington, D.C., to present writing awards to three very bright National Defense University students at the Eisenhower School and National War College. There are three awards presented at NDU: two on an Air Force topic and one on a Space Force topic. The Space Force paper is competed between the two schools, so the Eisenhower School was quite pleased to win it this year. The week prior, Charles Galbreath from AFA’s Mitchell Institute presented the writing award at the Johns Hopkins University Space Force School. Earlier, Stephen Gourley presented the writing award at Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Ala.

Best regards from South Texas,

Gary Copsey

Vice Chair of the Board, Education