Held annually during July, SEA is a one-week residential camp that provides rising high schooler juniors and seniors from across Alabama with opportunities to improve their knowledge and application of STEM while developing their entrepreneurship skills during hands-on workshops and hearing from experts in the field at The University of Alabama.

New this year was an aviation day partnership made possible in part by UA alumna Jessica Sanders Walker. Walker is the vice president of Sanders Aviation and Sanders Flight Training Center, and founder of the nonprofit, Operation Aviation Foundation (OAF), which encourages youth to seek education and career pathways in aviation.

While visiting campus this past spring, Walker reconnected with Dr. Samory Pruitt, vice president for Community Affairs, who invited her to join the Community Affairs Board of Advisors (BOA). As a BOA member, she participated in the 2023 New Faculty Community Engagement Tour that resulted in a partnership with Andrea Ziegler, director of Community Education, and Jake Peterson, assistant director of Community Education. As part of the partnership, 2023 SEA students were invited to participate in an aviation day during OAF’s first summer camp.

During the camp, SEA students heard from industry professionals, including Tim Crumbly, NASA technical fellow for software assurance, and Kathy Byars, Center Executive Officer at Marshall Space Flight Center. Campers were also debriefed on the science of flying and participated in a flight simulator. As a woman in STEM, Walker is passionate about making STEM careers accessible to youth in underrepresented areas.

“As soon as Kathy Byars from NASA stopped talking, I saw all these young girls from [STEM Entrepreneurship] Academy run up to her, and they were just elated speaking to her,” said Walker. “That really warmed my heart because I remember what it felt like to be a young woman on campus at The University of Alabama, and there weren’t that many women doing things in a lot of STEM positions and aviation positions as there are now, so it is always so exciting to get to see someone like Kathy Byars in the role that she’s in and all the women who presented today.”

The motto of the BOA is coming back, giving back, which inspires Walker to expand aviation outreach within her community.

“The Division of Community Affairs has just been incredible,” Walker said. “I would like to thank the staff from Community Affairs and Dr. Kathleen Cramer, who has constantly steered me back to the University. I am forever grateful to Dr. Samory Pruitt, and The University of Alabama because it is about coming back, giving back.”

“What I loved most was getting to connect with the campers,” said Meredith Taylor, one of the music education instructors for BLAST. “It always made me so happy to see them excited to come to music class. I love knowing that I made a positive impact on their lives that they’ll hopefully remember for years to come.”

BLAST Academy encourages children ages 5–14 to further their confidence and learning with a focus on arts education and literacy, physical education, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and social-emotional learning. New to this year, the program was expanded to include 7^th– and 8th-grade students. Sessions were taught in UA classrooms, giving practical teaching and leadership experience for BLAST’s group leaders and instructors, many of whom were UA students.

“For instructors, it is a great way to get hands-on experience in classrooms, and for group leaders, it is a positive way to spend your time and do real good in the lives of students,” said Abraham Humphrey, one of the group leaders.

During STEAM sessions, campers conducted science experiments and learned about the role of mathematics in daily life.

“I enjoy science and wanted to get kids excited about it so more people would get involved as they grow up,” said Kris Kirby, a BLAST group leader. “I enjoyed the projects with the kids, helping them learn to think to get to a final product through many different routes.”

Outside the classroom, campers furthered their teamwork skills by playing team sports, such as soccer and volleyball. In the arts and music education sessions, campers learned about the art of storytelling.

“One of the biggest focuses we’ve had this summer is working on literacy,” said Zoe Griffin, one of the BLAST music education instructors. “They’ve had to practice reading, comprehending and expressing a lot of new words in one summer. The songs also have very few repeating lines, so they’ve had to test their memory a lot, too.”

BLAST concluded with a final showcase on July 28 where each age group performed the musical routine they learned during the camp.

“As someone who’s worked [BLAST] twice now and got a job before I graduated, I can personally attest to the value of the experience you receive with BLAST,” Griffin said. “It was thanks to BLAST that I learned how to be comfortable teaching before my internship, and thanks to that experience that I was able to thrive in my future teaching experiences afterwards.”