About
STARBASE Indiana offers hands-on, minds-on activities in science, technology, engineering, art/design, and mathematics, including experiments with Newton’s Laws, Bernoulli’s principle, physics, chemistry, and data analysis. Students work with robotics and robotics programming, rocketry and rocket launches, solar cars, Scalextrics, aviation investigations, the science of baseball, and computer design projects such as using the computer to design space stations, all-terrain vehicles, and submersibles. The program also includes metric measurement, estimation, calculation, geometry, engineering challenges, and technology-focused activities, along with tours led by military volunteers, lectures on the use of STEAM in different settings and careers, and chances 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 run for 5 sequential days in 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 a premier educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, with a primary focus on fifth graders and a design for an entire class of up to 32 students. It uses an inquiry-based curriculum with hands-on, minds-on experiential activities, with mathematics embedded throughout and teamwork stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts. Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities in each STEAM area, and military volunteers apply abstract principles to real-world situations. The program is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip, requires a minimum number of hours in each subject area, and counts as a regular school day. Homeschool groups may participate if they can gather at least 20 students in the 5th grade.
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. A structured after school mentoring program, STARBASE 2.0 (now called STARBASE Advanced), for middle school students was piloted in 2010 at five locations, and DoD STARBASE Advanced is described as a highly structured afterschool mentoring program intended to help support school goals, with mentors serving as STEAM professional coaches and role models. Summer STEM Academies explore local community STEAM collaborations, and summer programs may include rocket launches as a featured activity. Program information states that students who attend DoD STARBASE improve their attitudes about and their confidence in STEAM, and that they increase their knowledge and skills in STEAM.
The program’s success relies on collaboration between the sponsoring military unit and STARBASE Academy, the school district, and local communities, with valued donors and sponsors including organizations such as VERIZON FOUNDATION, ERIE INSURANCE, 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. Schools are asked to provide transportation and make sure students have lunches, and teachers and a few chaperones need to come along and stay all day to provide support and any necessary discipline.
A testimonial from CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, states 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 run for 5 sequential days in 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 a premier educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, with a primary focus on fifth graders and a design for an entire class of up to 32 students. It uses an inquiry-based curriculum with hands-on, minds-on experiential activities, with mathematics embedded throughout and teamwork stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts. Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities in each STEAM area, and military volunteers apply abstract principles to real-world situations. The program is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip, requires a minimum number of hours in each subject area, and counts as a regular school day. Homeschool groups may participate if they can gather at least 20 students in the 5th grade.
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. A structured after school mentoring program, STARBASE 2.0 (now called STARBASE Advanced), for middle school students was piloted in 2010 at five locations, and DoD STARBASE Advanced is described as a highly structured afterschool mentoring program intended to help support school goals, with mentors serving as STEAM professional coaches and role models. Summer STEM Academies explore local community STEAM collaborations, and summer programs may include rocket launches as a featured activity. Program information states that students who attend DoD STARBASE improve their attitudes about and their confidence in STEAM, and that they increase their knowledge and skills in STEAM.
The program’s success relies on collaboration between the sponsoring military unit and STARBASE Academy, the school district, and local communities, with valued donors and sponsors including organizations such as VERIZON FOUNDATION, ERIE INSURANCE, 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. Schools are asked to provide transportation and make sure students have lunches, and teachers and a few chaperones need to come along and stay all day to provide support and any necessary discipline.
A testimonial from CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, states 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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