TOPEKA (KSNT) – Starbase students from Manhattan had the chance to visit Fort Riley’s military base and take a look at their Black Hawk and Apache helicopters Thursday while also learning the importance of STEM fields.
The adjutant general of Kansas hosts the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Starbase Kansas special program. It’s meant to provide information to young students about STEM programs.
There are five locations throughout Kansas associated with the program. Its focus is to inspire students to explore STEM careers and to develop an educated and skilled American workforce.
“So, we make that bridge between the academic and the hands-on activities and real-world applications, and having this opportunity for the kids to come out here to Fort Riley helps make that tangible,” said Executive Director of Kansas Starbase, Melissa Peat. “It helps them see those topics applicable in the real world.”
Throughout the week, multiple classes of fifth graders have field tripped over to Fort Riley Army post to see, feel and experience aviation vehicles like helicopters and meet some soldiers who specialize in aviation.
“Things we hope they take away, and that we’ve been kind of like and trying to enforce with them, is just that sometimes things can be a little bit nerve-wracking or scary, or they get anxiety,” said a Fort Riley instructor pilot at the platoon level, Alexander Monetti. “Not to let that anxiety stop them from doing something that they might want to pursue. So, they might have a fear of heights. But we’ve been telling them, like most of us, pilots also fear of heights. So don’t let that stop you from being a pilot.”
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The fifth-grade students were able to learn the ins and outs of the Apache and Black Hawk helicopters and even go in and take a seat. The soldiers working with them taught the kids what their day-to-day lives look like, how they got into aviation, and most importantly, how their passions led them to where they are.
“We’ve been around since 1993 here in Kansas, so we have the privilege of having STEM professionals come back to us or airmen or soldiers come back to us and say, ‘hey, that experience as a fifth grader going to see going to Starbase, building a rocket, meeting some soldiers or airmen. That was pivotal to what I then went on to do,'” Peat said.
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