Civil Air Patrol Continues Taking Leaps and Bounds in AFA STEM Programs 

The Civil Air Patrol is one of the original organizations involved in both of AFA’s youth STEM programs, and has maintained strong involvement in both CyberPatriot and StellarXplorers since their onsets.

Throughout the years, CAP has promoted CyberPatriot, AFA’s flagship STEM program, to its squadrons and has been a top organizational participant in the All Services Division. CAP teams are also involved in the Middle School Division each year having teams from the same squadron competing in both these divisions. Thus, with the combined All Services and Middle School divisions, CAP has the largest presence of teams in the program each year.

CAP’s aerospace education division, which also promotes STEM education to more than 6,000 CAP educator members, promotes Cyber Patriot on a dedicated webpage, in its monthly AE newsletters, and on social media—so educators are always well aware of the opportunities within the AFA’s National Youth Cyber Education Program.

CyberPatriot led CAP to initiate a total cyber education program for cadets. CAP now has a national cyber team that has built out training programs to complement and enhance the exemplary training program CyberPatriot provides. The aerospace education division promotes the program on an education page within the AE website. Most prominently, there is a dedicated website for the broader CAP cyber program, which promotes AFA’s CyberPatriot program and AFA CyberCamps. The full scope cadet cyber program encompasses national cadet special activities focused on cybersecurity careers and opportunities for the future, as well as a robust pathway to earning a CAP Cyber badge for uniform wear.

CAP cadets also have had the opportunity to lead summer AFA CyberCamps throughout the organization. This is a huge opportunity for CAP cadets—whether or not they’re directly involved with CyberPatriot—to learn more about AFA, our STEM programs, and the cybersecurity arena. This also helps bring in subject matter experts to provide instruction and mentorship to the cadets—and an awareness in the local cyber industry about the work CAP is doing to help prepare the next generation of American cyber-defense experts. 

CAP is also involved in StellarXplorers, AFA’s youth Space STEM program, with two CAP teams heading to the competition’s national finals this spring. CAP’s StellarXplorer teams are regular finalists in the national competition, and even had a national finals winner in 2021, a team from the Aurora Composite Squadron in Portland, Ore. That same Oregon team will be joining the Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron as the two CAP teams qualified to attend the national StellarXplorers finals in April. 

As a partner in STEM education with the AFA, CAP is proud to be a part of AFA’s STEM programs which enhance the missions of both organizations to help build a strong future STEM workforce through educational programs, experiences, and opportunities.