Aerospace Education Council Update: December 2023

December 21, 2023   |   By Stephen Gourley

In November, the Board approved the 2024 budget with full support for Education programs! AFA will continue to support our annual Pitsenbarger Awards; grants for educators, AFROTC, CAP, and JROTC; scholarship programs; and the Thompson-Mallett Teachers of the Year. In the new year, your Education Council will be working on a National Pitsenbarger award, and “Research and Writing” awards for senior service schools.

The “Full Measure Award,” the next tier Pitsenbarger, has an objective of increasing the engagement of the recipients of our awards and grants with our chapters. These recipients are typically just the folks we’d like to have join us in actively pursuing our mission, not only in education, but advocacy and support, as well. The Full Measure Award is the first of several initiatives towards that objective. If you have ideas about how we might increase chapter participation by our awardees, you know where to reach me (vced@afa.org)!

January brings our annual Field Leadership Summit. I, once again, will have the opportunity to “educate” our State and Region Presidents on the AFA education programs and the good work done by your Education Council. I look forward to engaging with these Field Leaders and getting their perspective on how our programs support their activities at home. They offer another great avenue for ideas or feedback you may have.

In the meantime, I wish each of you the peace and calm of this holiday season. Please take the time to strengthen ties with family and friends, and rejuvenate for the coming year. Then…

Go forth and do good things!

Stephen K. Gourley

Vice Chair of the Board, Education

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