Wisdom Begins With Wonder

The Delaware Aerospace Academy Celebrates 26 Years of Excellence

Just because your grandkids are on summer break doesn’t mean they have to suffer “Brain Drain.” Experts say those three months off can actually cause a loss of knowledge gained in the prior year. “Learning changes the brain. Every time you learn something, there are nerve cells that are making connections,” says UW-Madison educational psychology professor, Edward Hubbard. “But if you’re not using that information, over time those connections will weaken.”

And conversely, when you’re learning, you’re strengthening those connections in the brain at a microscopic level. That’s where the Delaware Aerospace Academy steps in. We all know that the 21st century is a time of advanced technologies, harnessing energy, recycling our resources, futuristic structures, robotic probes, lunar outposts and human missions to Mars. The future holds undreamed of scientific and technological opportunities. The Delaware Aerospace Academy hopes to prepare students for those challenges through its Destination Academies.

The Destination Academies, offered since 1990, are week-long half- or full-day camps held at the University of Delaware for girls and boys in 1st through 10th grade.  “Cadets” are continually challenged to think, create, solve, build, and work cooperatively. Each academy integrates the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics using Earth and Space Education as the unifying framework.

For instance, while the younger set is embarking on memorable sea adventures and dinosaur digs, the older participants are conducting experiments in a space laboratory like NASA’s “White Room,” or operating advanced flight simulators and hovercraft and learning about advanced rocketry and robotics, assembling a space station underwater, and conducting in-flight experiments in a Mars Simulation.

Young people of all ages are enraptured with innovation, technology and exploration. The Academy helps to intensify and channel that fascination. An understanding and an appreciation of our world and exposure to the wide variety of high-tech career opportunities are essential to the success of the young people of our country. Make sure your child or grandchild isn’t left behind!

Sessions start June 20, 2016.  To learn more or to enroll, please visit www.dasef.org, email dasef.outpost@verizon.net or call 302-834-1978.  The adventure of a lifetime is waiting!

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