Aerospace-STEM Initiative

Building STEM Leaders

Pardon our mess - this page is currently under construction. Stay tuned for updates!

The Museum’s successful Young Women’s STEM Leadership Initiative (YWSLI), launched in 2015, expanded in the 2018-2019 school year to become the Youth STEM Initiative (YSI). YSI intends to provide underserved, local PK-12 students/teachers and post-secondary students with multiple exposures (in-person or virtual) to an assortment of STEM activities; classroom and planetarium programming; career exploration; and STEM leadership opportunities to address community challenges. YSI was developed with the intent to increase student awareness and engagement with STEM.

Many thanks to our generous funders who support this initiative!

Bell Helicopter
Collins Aerospace
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
IF/THEN Fund at Texas Women's Foundation (an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies)
Jan & Suzanne Collmer Education Fund
Kozmetsky Family Foundation
PPG Industries Foundation
Prichard Family Foundation
The Rosewood Foundation
The UPS Foundation
Theodore and Beulah Beasely Foundation
K.B.-Polk-Students-During-Fluor-Engineering-Challenge
K.B. Polk Students during Fluor Engineering Challenge
YWSTEAM-Students-at-STEM-Career-Day-participating-in-the-UPS-Challenge
YWSTEAM Students at STEM Career Day participating in UPS Challenge

What YSI Does

  • Broadens awareness of STEM through the introduction to aerospace through a multitude of programming
  • Strengthens leadership skills and builds confidence through camp internships as well as museum volunteer opportunities for 8th-12th grade students
  • Exposure to career pathways through special programs such as Engineers Week(s); Spring, Summer, and Winter Camps; and STEM Career Day(s) all featuring presentations by industry professionals
  • Develops long-term school and community partnerships

YSI Impact Story

Girtl at podium
"The Frontiers of Flight Museum has impacted my life by expanding my knowledge and curiosity about aerospace and aviation. I have attended the spring break camps sponsored by the Frontiers of Flight Museum since 6th grade. This year, I had the opportunity to intern for them during the spring break camp, and I will also be interning this summer.The camp was all about STEM and aviation. We learned the four forces of flight, and we used the airplane simulators. In 6th grade, I was asked what my plans were for the future, and I said I was interested in becoming a flight attendant.Throughout the years by attending the camps and researching, I found that I could do much more than just being a flight attendant. Personally, I wanted to become a flight attendant because I was not introduced to the idea that women could also be pilots in a male-dominated field. In the Museum, there is an Amelia Earhart exhibit that impacted me greatly.This exhibit helped me realize that I could become a pilot as well, just like Amelia. Overall, the Frontiers of Flight Museum has given me a great experience by introducing me to the different opportunities I can have. It has taught me that no goal cannot be achieved, which gives me the drive to keep learning more."
– Erica Rivera, Youth STEM Initiative Student from Young Women’s Leadership Academy at Bill Arnold