Every program we run puts students in the hands-on seat — with a working engineer, Soldier, or educator alongside. Kids learn engineering by building things, not by hearing about them. The four formats below run on a school-year cadence; standing partners are listed at the bottom of the page.
Soldiers, civilian engineers, and STEM educators visit Lawton-area elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the school year. Visits are scoped to the science the class is studying that week — demonstrations, Q&A, and a hands-on activity students can take home. Visits typically run 45–90 minutes; we work directly with the classroom teacher to scope.
Volunteer support for FIRST LEGO League and adjacent competitions held at the Tomlinson STEM Arena at Life Ready Center. We coach during the season, judge on competition days, mentor team captains, and on a good day hand out replacement parts when a chassis falls apart twenty minutes before the run. We do not currently field our own teams — we exist to make existing teams better.
Joint projects with educators and service members in school maker spaces — building, prototyping, and problem-solving in formats students can take home, build on, and show their families. Cleveland Elementary has been the standing host for our maker-space sessions; we are scoping additional schools for the 2026–27 year.
Multi-day camps run with university partners. The 2025 STEM Aerospace Camp at FISTA — staffed jointly with Oklahoma State University, Cameron University, and the Fort Sill Redlegs — is the model for what we're scaling next. Drone navigation, an egg-drop competition, and a live video call with Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise. Two days, three counties of high schoolers, full house.