Program Has Reached More Than 3 Million Students STEM Worldwide
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center and its long-term partner Honeywell hosted more than 200 teachers from 25 countries and 36 U.S. states and territories at the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA), over two consecutive weeks in June 2016. Six teachers from the Philippines attended this year's program.
The award-winning scholarship program, created by Honeywell Hometown Solutions in partnership with USSRC, is designed to help middle school math and science teachers be more effective at teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. Since its creation in 2004, HESA has graduated 2,576 educators from 56 countries and 52 U.S. states and territories.
"We are proud to work with Honeywell to offer this program to teachers from all over the world each year," said Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and Executive Director of the Rocket Center. "This program gives teachers innovative tools they need to engage their students and lead them toward success in the classroom and in the workplace. The educators who attend say HESA changed the way they teach and reinvigorated their passion for their work. The beneficiaries of this collaboration are ultimately the millions of children who come through their classrooms."
Teachers participated in 45 hours of classroom and laboratory instruction focused specifically on science and space exploration. Sessions include astronaut-style exercises such as high-performance jet simulation, scenario-based space missions, land and water survival training and interactive flight dynamics programs.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime awesome experience for me as an educator. I have attended teacher training and seminars before but the HESA program is the best training I ever had and I will be forever thankful to Honeywell," said 2016 Philippine graduate Christoper Ramayla. "It re-ignited my passion for teaching science and engineering and will help me inspire young minds in the Philippines."
"As a global leader in each of our business groups -- Aerospace, Automation Control and Solutions, and Performance Materials and Technologies -- Honeywell understands the importance of inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers," said Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Southeast Asia. "In order to do that, we are committed to equipping teachers with new techniques to ignite their passion for teaching challenging subjects like math and science in a way that inspires today's students to become the STEM leaders of the future."
HESA candidates complete a rigorous application process. Qualified teachers are awarded scholarships, round-trip airfare, tuition, meals and accommodations, thanks to the generous support of Honeywell and its employees.
To date, more than 3 million students benefited from the invaluable teaching techniques gained from HESA.
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