Delivering hands-on STEM education to students of all ages across Oklahoma

Local 4-H youth couldn’t contain their excitement when they had the chance to build and keep their own drone.

“There was raucous applause,” said Denise Turner, Discovery Club 4-H leader for Payne County. “And then when another kid asked, ‘We get to take them home?’ there was another wave of excitement.”

Oklahoma State University Aerospace Institute for Research and Education is on a mission to showcase the possibilities of aerospace to every student. It launched a bold statewide initiative, ‘77 Oklahoma Counties in 77 Weeks,’ to spark aerospace opportunity throughout the state.

Natalie Noles, OAIRE director of operations, recognizes that the future is literally up in the air.

“Aerospace is the second-leading industry now in the state of Oklahoma,” Noles said. “We want aerospace to be No. 1, and that starts with us.”

An eager group of 4-H parents and their children gathered in the Michael S. Morgan Business Accelerator on Thursday with green boxes containing ready-to-make drone kits.

Noles directed the group and parents with specific step-by-step instructions and encouraged parents to let the children take the lead, which gave them the opportunity to build confidence and develop problem-solving skills.

Jacob Davis, a 4-H parent who attended the workshop with his daughter, Emma, appreciates opportunities like this to spend quality time together while learning something new.

“I think it's great that young girls get involved with STEM,” Davis said. “I'm an engineer, and I have three girls, and I want them to have a similar passion and encourage them to explore different STEM opportunities.”

Before the workshop, the group toured the EXCELSIOR Laboratory, OSU's dedicated research and innovation facility for unmanned systems.

“Touring the lab was really cool because they got to see projects and processes, like the whole scientific method,” Turner said. “Then, actually getting to build today and really be hands-on, I think it is super cool.”

OAIRE’s initiative fulfills OSU’s land-grant mission of reaching beyond Payne County and extending opportunities to rural areas that may not have access to this kind of technology and education.

“As we're going to the 77 counties, we're engaging in the extension sites, and those extension sites have come in handy because sometimes schools don't have space to host these camps,” Noles said. “We're really targeting rural Oklahoma and schools that don't have engineering programs, so that we can provide engineering drones, rockets, kites, and get them interested.”

Noles hopes to ignite a love of aerospace engineering in the next generation.

“We want to get aerospace in the hands of every student,” Noles said. “So, when they get into the high school level, they will engage in the engineering programs, and then hopefully choose orange, too.”

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Story By: Rachel Teran | rachel.teran10@okstate.edu