(from left to right: Commander, Youth and Community Programs Task Force, Brigadier General (CA) James L. Gabrielli; Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva; Youth and Community Programs Task Force Director of Starbase, Los Alamitos, Stacey Hendrickson; and Sandra Sainz, Senior Enlisted NCOIC)
SACRAMENTO â In further efforts to bring California tax dollars to Orange County, Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D â Orange County) has secured a total of $1.7 million in funding for a critical Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education program to expand the STARBASE youth program at the Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos Department. While the federal government pays for all operating costs associated with STARBASE, the Department of Defense looked to Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva and the State of California to help provide classrooms for the program.
STARBASE, Los Alamitos, serves schools from 5 counties in California; Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego. Although it is anticipated that STARBASE Los Alamitos will host 3000 students, from 105 fifth grade classes in the 2017-18 school year, there is a waiting list of 46 classes that cannot be accommodated. The budget augmentation in this request will allow for the construction of a new 3,500 square foot building at the National Guard Base at Los Alamitos which will include two STARBASE classrooms that will allow an additional 2,000 students to attend the program each year, eliminating the waiting list for potential students.
âAs a teacher of over 20 years, I am very familiar with the importance of investing in the future of our children, through education. Investing in STEM education is, and will continue to be, an imperative focus of our Stateâ said Quirk-Silva. Investing in an education that is focused on these subjects is investing in the future of these inspired boys and girls, AND the workforce and economy of this nation.â
âSince the founding of STARBASE at the Joint Forces Training Facility in Los Alamitos, the goal has been to expose our local at-risk youth to the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). By providing hands-on activities with military personnel, students gain valuable firsthand experience, that expand their knowledge of STEM and its uses in the real world, said California State Senator Janet Nguyen (R â Garden Grove). âI want to thank Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva for securing the fundingto make this possible.â
STARBASE teaches students to complete simulated missions using skills and principles from Physics, Computer Science, Chemistry and Statistics. Students program a robot to complete a Mars Rover mission, design prototypes on CAD (Computer Aided Design), test experiments to learn the unique characteristics of elements and conduct their own experiments. STARBASE Los Alamitos also runs a competitive rocket team every year in which students participate in Team America Rocket Challenge while learning the basics of rocket science.
Nationwide, the STARBASE program is now in 59 locations across 30 states engaging local fifth-grade elementary students by exposing them to first-hand âreal-worldâ applications of STEM skills. In the 47th District, the STARBASE Youth Program Facility at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos serves nearly 4,000 students a year. The program has served more than 1 million students nationwide since its inception. The STARBASE program is administered by the military services because the lack of STEM educated youth in America has been identified as a future national security issue by the Department of Defense.
Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva is Chair of the Assembly Jobs Committee, member of the Select Committee on Aerospace, Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Building a 21st Century Workforce, and the Select Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education, among others.