Aerospace Education Council: February 2026 Update

Are you feeling it? This is the time of year things REALLY start to move! Last month I emphasized Teacher of the Year, Grants, Scholarships, and Pitsenbarger Awards. I also gave you a short overview of the Teacher STEM Camps. I hope everyone is moving out on those opportunities to make sure deserving folks know about them. If you have questions about any of them, (with the exception of the Teacher STEM Camps) they are spelled out in the Field Operations Guide. There are also training modules available on the AFA website under Membership/Field Leader Resources, which offer ideas about how to find and submit folks and create awareness about each program. If you can’t find something or have questions, drop me a note.

The AEC also has two awards that can be presented annually to which I’d like to draw your attention. They are the Chair’s Award for (Aerospace) Education Achievement (CAEA) and the Distinguished Sustained (Aerospace) Education Award (DSEA), the highest awards we give for Education Achievement, and not necessarily given every year. We urge you to help identify potential awardees. Below is what we need:

• CAEA: This educational recognition will only be awarded when the AFA Education Council, as the recommending entity, identifies a deserving recipient, and forwards the recommendation for approval by the National Awards Committee. The award recognizes special or sustained achievement in support of the AFA mission statement; namely, advocate for STEM Education and/or support and promote aerospace education. The award is designed to recognize government entities- international, federal, state, or local; industry; AFA community partner; scholarly enterprise; or any private or public business. The award can be given to an individual(s) or an entity or entities within the categories designated. AFA chapter and state organizations are not eligible for the award.
• DSEA: This educational recognition will only be awarded when the AFA Education Council, as the recommending entity, identifies a deserving individual and their recommendation is approved by the National Awards Committee. The award shall be presented in those instances to an individual AFA member whose record overwhelmingly demonstrates distinguished sustained service in support of the educational mission of the Association over a period of years. Any AFA member and/or HQ AFA staff may bring a worthy individual to the attention of the AEC via the nomination form.

Want to help us grow our new Education Fund? We’re busy working on the charter, but if you want to contribute to AFA Education Programs, you can designate that you wish your donation to go to AFA Education and it will get earmarked for just that. You can get in on the ground floor to help us build funds to better serve AFA Education Program needs.

Currently, except for certain scholarships and the Teacher of the Year program, funding comes from the AFA general fund. Our goal is to have enough dedicated funding to support and grow our education programs without relying on the overall general fund. The concept was approved at the last Board of Directors meeting, and once we have a solid charter that is Board approved, we will give the fund a name!

All the best from Texas,

Gary Copsey
Vice Chair – Education