About
STARBASE Indiana offers hands-on, minds-on activities in science, technology, engineering, art/design, and mathematics, including topics such as Newton’s Laws, Bernoulli’s principle, engineering, physics, chemistry, aerospace, and technology. Students take part in robotics and robotics programming, design space stations, all-terrain vehicles, and submersibles on the computer, and work with Scalextrics, solar cars, and rocketry, including rocket launches. The program also includes aviation investigations, the science of baseball, tours led by military volunteers, lectures on the use of STEAM in different settings and careers, and opportunities to discuss how chemical fires are extinguished, learn how injured people are transported, and explore the cockpit of an F-18 and the interior of a submarine.
• Ages: 10–13 years old
• Schedule: The program can be run either for 5 sequential days (Monday–Friday of a single week) or one day a week for 5 weeks, for a total of 25 hours.
• Price: The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense, with no cost to the school for the 5-day, 25-hour program.
The program is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip and is designed at the 5th grade level for an entire class of up to 32 students. Mathematics is embedded throughout the curriculum, including metric measurement, estimation, calculation, geometry, and data analysis, and the inquiry-based curriculum uses hands-on, minds-on experiential activities. Teamwork is stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts, and the program focuses on peaceful applications of STEAM such as designing robotic planetary explorers or vehicle crash safety systems.
Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities in each STEAM area. The primary focus is the program for fifth graders, and homeschool groups with at least 20 students in 5th grade may be accommodated. Teachers and a few chaperones attend and stay all day to provide support and discipline, while STARBASE staff handle most of the teaching.
The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense and additional growth and activities are supported by donations to a 501(c)(3) fund. The program’s success relies on collaboration between the sponsoring military unit and STARBASE Academy, the school district, and local communities, and summer camps explore local community STEAM collaborations. Listed donors and sponsors include VERIZON FOUNDATION, ERIE INSURANCE, MANNACOR, SCIENTECH CLUB FOUNDATION, LEGACY FOUNDATION, TEACHERS CREDIT UNION, SWEETWATER, L3HARRIS, NIPSCO/NISOURCE, BILLY DAVIS INSURANCE GROUP, TRELLEBORG, INDIANA TECH, SWEET AVIATION, YOUNG EAGLES, PARKVIEW HEALTH, PARKVIEW FIELD, HOME OF THE TINCAPS, WORLD BASEBALL ACADEMY, MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY, BAE SYSTEMS, INDIANA NATIONAL GUARD, and INDIANA AIR NATIONAL GUARD.
The DoD STARBASE Program first originated in Detroit, Michigan as Project STARS in 1991, and in FY 1993 the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for DoD STARBASE and piloted the program in seven states. To accommodate the growing demand for additional STEM programs, a structured after school mentoring program, STARBASE 2.0 (now called STARBASE Advanced), for middle school students was piloted in 2010 at five locations. The after-school mentoring program (STARBASE Advanced) is highly structured and intended to help support school goals, with mentors serving as successful STEAM professional coaches and role models, and summer STEM academies connect community and careers and may include experiments and rocket launches.
Schools are asked to provide transportation and make sure the students have lunches, and students must be brought to the program with their lunches by bus, carpooling parents, or other means, with teachers and a few chaperones staying all day. According to CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, “The desire to achieve is won or lost in the mind of the students… but the outcome depends on the judgment, skill and courage of the individuals. I personally guarantee that STARBASE Indiana promotes a plethora of attributes that will do nothing but help our children be successful in all of their endeavors faced while climbing the ladder of success.”
Last updated May 13, 2026.
• Ages: 10–13 years old
• Schedule: The program can be run either for 5 sequential days (Monday–Friday of a single week) or one day a week for 5 weeks, for a total of 25 hours.
• Price: The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense, with no cost to the school for the 5-day, 25-hour program.
The program is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip and is designed at the 5th grade level for an entire class of up to 32 students. Mathematics is embedded throughout the curriculum, including metric measurement, estimation, calculation, geometry, and data analysis, and the inquiry-based curriculum uses hands-on, minds-on experiential activities. Teamwork is stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts, and the program focuses on peaceful applications of STEAM such as designing robotic planetary explorers or vehicle crash safety systems.
Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities in each STEAM area. The primary focus is the program for fifth graders, and homeschool groups with at least 20 students in 5th grade may be accommodated. Teachers and a few chaperones attend and stay all day to provide support and discipline, while STARBASE staff handle most of the teaching.
The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense and additional growth and activities are supported by donations to a 501(c)(3) fund. The program’s success relies on collaboration between the sponsoring military unit and STARBASE Academy, the school district, and local communities, and summer camps explore local community STEAM collaborations. Listed donors and sponsors include VERIZON FOUNDATION, ERIE INSURANCE, MANNACOR, SCIENTECH CLUB FOUNDATION, LEGACY FOUNDATION, TEACHERS CREDIT UNION, SWEETWATER, L3HARRIS, NIPSCO/NISOURCE, BILLY DAVIS INSURANCE GROUP, TRELLEBORG, INDIANA TECH, SWEET AVIATION, YOUNG EAGLES, PARKVIEW HEALTH, PARKVIEW FIELD, HOME OF THE TINCAPS, WORLD BASEBALL ACADEMY, MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY, BAE SYSTEMS, INDIANA NATIONAL GUARD, and INDIANA AIR NATIONAL GUARD.
The DoD STARBASE Program first originated in Detroit, Michigan as Project STARS in 1991, and in FY 1993 the U.S. Congress appropriated funds for DoD STARBASE and piloted the program in seven states. To accommodate the growing demand for additional STEM programs, a structured after school mentoring program, STARBASE 2.0 (now called STARBASE Advanced), for middle school students was piloted in 2010 at five locations. The after-school mentoring program (STARBASE Advanced) is highly structured and intended to help support school goals, with mentors serving as successful STEAM professional coaches and role models, and summer STEM academies connect community and careers and may include experiments and rocket launches.
Schools are asked to provide transportation and make sure the students have lunches, and students must be brought to the program with their lunches by bus, carpooling parents, or other means, with teachers and a few chaperones staying all day. According to CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, “The desire to achieve is won or lost in the mind of the students… but the outcome depends on the judgment, skill and courage of the individuals. I personally guarantee that STARBASE Indiana promotes a plethora of attributes that will do nothing but help our children be successful in all of their endeavors faced while climbing the ladder of success.”
Last updated May 13, 2026.
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