War Department Celebrates 20 Years of STARBASE Arizona

STARBASE is a U.S. Department of Defense youth outreach and education program that brings elementary students onto military bases for about 25 hours of hands‑on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts/design and math) lessons. Its main goals are to expose young people to real-world technology and positive civilian and military role models, motivate them to keep studying STEAM subjects, and help them see possible future careers in STEAM fields and the military.

Nationally, the DoD STARBASE program is sponsored and overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Locally, STARBASE Arizona operates as the DoD STARBASE site at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and is listed as a youth outreach program under the 355th Force Support Squadron at the base.

STARBASE Arizona’s core program serves 5th-grade students (roughly 10–11 years old) from school districts in the Tucson area. In line with the national STARBASE model, there are also STARBASE Advanced/2.0 after‑school offerings that can serve middle‑school students (generally grades 6–8), but the primary focus at Davis-Monthan is on 5th graders.

Available program materials state that since opening at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, STARBASE Arizona has served (or “empowered”) more than 14,000 students. That figure is cumulative over its operating history, i.e., roughly its first two decades.

STARBASE Arizona delivers a standardized DoD STARBASE curriculum in a 25‑hour block on base that includes:

• Hands‑on science and engineering (e.g., Newton’s laws, Bernoulli’s principle, basic physics, rocketry, and engineering design challenges).
• Technology and math applied in projects (e.g., using computers to design vehicles or structures, measurement, geometry, and data analysis embedded in activities).
• Exposure to careers, where Air Force personnel brief students on their jobs and demonstrate how they use STEAM in the military environment. These activities are taught in an inquiry-based, “hands‑on, minds‑on” format aligned with school standards.

STARBASE Arizona is part of the federal DoD STARBASE program, which is funded and sponsored at the national level by the U.S. Department of Defense (through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs). Locally, the site operates at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as a DoD STARBASE academy and youth outreach program under the 355th Force Support Squadron, and program documents indicate it also seeks additional community and partner support (e.g., through local requests for support or grants) to supplement federal funding.