AeroEducate, Education Center to See Improvements thanks to Adam R. Scripps Foundation

Adolescent education in the EAA's Minnesota stomping ground is due for an improvement thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the Adam R. Scripps foundation.

The Association said that it intends to devote the funding to its local EAA Education Center, with outreach for those outside the local area via their online AeroEducate program.

The 3-year grant will see $1.5 million flow to activities at the Education Center, supporting the EAA's mission there as they bring thousands of kids into the aviation fold. K-12 students elsewhere will get similarly enlightening, though not quite as hands-on lessons from the online AeroEducate system, a free classroom resource that provides age-appropriate aviation-based coursework to prime their curious minds.

The grant helps to finish off the EAA's Education Center in Oshkosh, too, with the exterior courtyard to be named after Adam R. Scripps thanks to the foundation's contribution.

“The Adam R. Scripps Foundation reviewed the work that EAA was doing at the Education Center, especially with young people on-site and through AeroEducate, and was motivated to support these expanding efforts,” said Margaret Brill, Director of the EAA Aviation Foundation. “We are grateful for this major grant, as it comes at a time when tremendous opportunities exist to reach young people with the possibilities within aviation for achievement in STEM education and in possible future careers.”

“Adam Scripps had many hobbies and interests, but few energized him like his love of aviation, education and helping young people reach their potential, so it was fitting that his foundation’s leaders searched for a nonprofit that married those three passions,” said Alex Bakkum, Chief Philanthropy Officer for the Scripps family. “We could find no better partner for inspiring future aviators than the EAA and its remarkable AeroEducate program.”

FMI: www.EAA.org