About
STARBASE Indiana offers hands-on, minds-on activities in science, technology, engineering, art/design, and mathematics, including work with robotics, rocketry, solar cars, chemistry, physics, aerospace, and computer design. Students explore concepts such as Newton’s Laws and Bernoulli’s principle, use computers to design space stations, all-terrain vehicles, and submersibles, and take part in activities like Scalextrics, aviation investigations, the science of baseball, and robotics programming. The program also includes rocket launches, 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 runs for 5 days in a single week or one day a week for 5 weeks, with students attending all 5 days for 5 hours each day, for a total of 25 hours.
• Price: The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense, is completely free to schools for the entire 5-day, 25-hour program, and schools are asked to provide transportation and lunches.
The main STARBASE Indiana program is described as a 5-day, 25-hour intensive STEM program that is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip. It is designed at the 5th grade level for an entire class of up to 32 students, and homeschool groups may participate if they can gather at least 20 students in 5th grade. The curriculum is inquiry-based and uses hands-on, minds-on experiential activities, with mathematics embedded throughout, including metric measurement, estimation, calculation, geometry, and data analysis. Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities, and teamwork is stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts. Teachers and a few chaperones attend and stay all day to provide support and discipline, while STARBASE staff handle most of the teaching, and the program is not intended to recruit children into the military and focuses on peaceful applications of STEAM.
STARBASE Indiana is described as a premier educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Students interact with military personnel to explore careers and observe STEAM applications in real-world situations, and military volunteers apply abstract principles to real-world situations by leading tours and giving lectures. An after-school STARBASE Advanced program is highly structured and intended to support school goals by increasing student interest and knowledge in STEAM, engagement with school, and STEAM career awareness, and summer STEM academies connect community and careers and include various STEAM activities such as rocket launches.
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. Brig. Gen. David Arendts is identified as the 127th Wing Commander at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and CMSgt James E. Salway II is identified as Retired, Indiana Air National Guard.
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. One testimonial from CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, states that he personally guarantees that STARBASE Indiana promotes a plethora of attributes that will help children be successful in their endeavors while climbing the ladder of success.
Last updated May 13, 2026.
• Ages: 10–13 years old
• Schedule: The program runs for 5 days in a single week or one day a week for 5 weeks, with students attending all 5 days for 5 hours each day, for a total of 25 hours.
• Price: The main STARBASE Indiana program is fully funded by the Department of Defense, is completely free to schools for the entire 5-day, 25-hour program, and schools are asked to provide transportation and lunches.
The main STARBASE Indiana program is described as a 5-day, 25-hour intensive STEM program that is considered an extension of the classroom rather than just a field trip. It is designed at the 5th grade level for an entire class of up to 32 students, and homeschool groups may participate if they can gather at least 20 students in 5th grade. The curriculum is inquiry-based and uses hands-on, minds-on experiential activities, with mathematics embedded throughout, including metric measurement, estimation, calculation, geometry, and data analysis. Each academy chooses a customized curriculum from a large offering of peer-reviewed learning opportunities, and teamwork is stressed as students work together to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate concepts. Teachers and a few chaperones attend and stay all day to provide support and discipline, while STARBASE staff handle most of the teaching, and the program is not intended to recruit children into the military and focuses on peaceful applications of STEAM.
STARBASE Indiana is described as a premier educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Students interact with military personnel to explore careers and observe STEAM applications in real-world situations, and military volunteers apply abstract principles to real-world situations by leading tours and giving lectures. An after-school STARBASE Advanced program is highly structured and intended to support school goals by increasing student interest and knowledge in STEAM, engagement with school, and STEAM career awareness, and summer STEM academies connect community and careers and include various STEAM activities such as rocket launches.
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. Brig. Gen. David Arendts is identified as the 127th Wing Commander at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and CMSgt James E. Salway II is identified as Retired, Indiana Air National Guard.
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. One testimonial from CMSgt James E. Salway II, Retired, Indiana Air National Guard, states that he personally guarantees that STARBASE Indiana promotes a plethora of attributes that will help children be successful in their endeavors while climbing the ladder of success.
Last updated May 13, 2026.
Is this your business? There is no cost, but you will be asked to sign up or log in.