Two team members from Naval Air Warfare Aircraft Division Lakehurst recently traveled to the McGuire side of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to participate in the Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration (STARBASE) program.  

STARBASE provides supplemental Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lessons to students who might not be exposed to these fields in their regular classrooms. 

The theme of this year’s camp was “STEAMQuest: Explore, Create, Innovate," with cybersecurity engineer Crispreet Kaur and technical data manager Annmarie Holler focusing their lessons on the field of engineering.  

Holler said their activity was called the “Skimmer,” which they learned during the Best Practices in STEM Outreach workshop at the U.S. Naval Academy last year. It is a hands-on engineering project that teaches students about the principles of flight and the design process. 

“This activity helps showcase what makes Lakehurst so special,” Holler said, noting that the students created paper aircraft that they launched on the floor using rubber bands. "We used this activity to help explain the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system. It's also a great lesson to talk about creating prototypes, and when a problem comes up, how to brainstorm and look for solutions."  

Kaur said being part of the STARBASE program was “an extremely fun experience” for the students and the Lakehurst team members.  

“All of the children were extremely innovative with their solutions and quick fixes to their skimmers so that they could optimize it for the best launch,” Kaur said. 

The STARBASE program is just one of several examples of NAWCAD Lakehurst working with local school districts to increase student interest in STEM careers, including Camp Invention, Kids Week at the USS Intrepid, and the SeaPerch regional competition.