Community Outreach

Sharing Aerospace/STEM in your community

Civil Air Patrol takes aerospace/STEM education into the communities where the squadron members live and serve through the external component of CAP's AE Program. Foundational to the external side of AE is the Aerospace Education Member (AEM) program, a special membership available to all K-12 formal and informal U.S. citizen educators, including those in classrooms, home schools, museums, libraries, and youth organizations.

We have formal, national-level community involvement programs for our members and AEMs such as Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) Flights and Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) Plus. In a TOP Flight, Civil Air Patrol puts teachers in the air to experience aviation in a CAP plane. These flights connect classroom concepts to real-world physics. With our ACE Plus program, local squadrons assist AEMs in their ACE (a K-6 STEM program) classrooms. Cadets can introduce the CAP Cadet Program to students in 5th-8th grades.

In addition to the national-level programs, Civil Air Patrol members visit schools, museums, air shows, and a variety of other community events to both recruit members and engage the community in aerospace/STEM learning, shaping futures with every presentation. Find out more at the links.