A partnership based on rockets helps motivate teachers to inspire students on STEM topics

Honeywell undertakes a broad range of activities to support the communities where it does business. The effectiveness of its “Hometown Solutions” initiative has earned it first place in the “Education or Scholarship Program” category of PR Daily’s 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

Honeywell’s “Hometown Solutions” partnered with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center to give middle-school teachers unique opportunities to expand their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teaching abilities. The program simulates astronaut training, captured within a new program labeled the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA). 

During the program, educators participate in a range of activities like high-performance jet simulations, scenario-based space missions, coding challenges, water survival training and interactive flight dynamics programs. Teachers spend a total of 45 hours in the program, divided between classroom, laboratory and field training. 

Since the program’s launch in 2004, 3,011 alumni have taken their knowledge back to nearly 6 million students in 67 countries. Alumni have redesigned science and math curriculum based on their experience; won multiple grants from NASA, states and corporations; and created a variety of afterschool STEM programs. 

In June 2017, 200 teachers from 33 countries and 45 U.S. states were selected to attend the HESA program, where they would be the first to use the new Raspberry Pi Rocket Sensor Package that lets them program sensors to be placed in model rockets they would launch at Space Camp.

The latest innovation is characteristic of a program that continues to evolve in order to deepen the impact these teachers have on their students, leading ultimately to a bigger pipeline of qualified students entering the workforce ready to fill the growing number of jobs that will require their skills.