Curious about aviation education or looking to advance your STEM/CTE program? Join educators nationwide transforming classrooms with aviation, inspiring students, and creating career-ready pathways into aviation and aerospace.
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The 2025 Symposium gives you everything you need to start or elevate your aviation STEM and CTE programs. Turn curiosity into engagement, passive learners into driven problem-solvers, and ignite passion through aviation.
Now in its 12th year, the Symposium gives educators the tools, insights, and community to bring aviation STEM to life through AOPA’s aviation education curriculum. What started as a resource for early curriculum adopters has grown into a national gathering for educators at every stage, whether exploring aviation for the first time, launching a new program, or leading established, thriving programs.
The symposium delivers a full lifecycle experience: from sparking interest to sustaining long-term growth, showing how aviation STEM and CTE learning inspire students and create clear pathways to careers in aviation and aerospace. Attendees leave with actionable strategies, curriculum support, and a network of peers who share a passion for preparing the next generation of aviation and aerospace professionals.
Aviation is an unexpected, but incredibly effective way to teach science, math, engineering, and technology. It makes abstract concepts real, relevant, and exciting, and it's completely accessible, at no cost, to your school.
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We're putting together a lineup packed with big ideas, inspiration, hands-on fun, and unforgettable moments. Stay tuned!
Check out our 2025 program here.
New to teaching aviation? In under three hours, you'll cover fundamentals like aerodynamics, key aircraft components and systems, FAA regulations, ATC, the NAS, and the pilot certification path. Leave with a toolkit of free and low-cost resources.
Map your path to becoming an FAA-certificated ground instructor. Learn certificate types, eligibility, test prep strategies, and leave with a practical roadmap for certification.
Get a clear overview of the AOPA curriculum's principles, resources, and implementation strategies. Perfect for newcomers or anyone refreshing their approach.
Discover the free high school curriculum changing classrooms nationwide. Get a high-level view of rigor, hands-on activities, and teacher support to get started quickly.
How to plug into or launch aviation competitions that build teamwork and real-world skills, with practical startup advice.
Intentional drone use to teach STEM, problem-solving, and collaboration, plus selection, maintenance, management, and accessories.
What it takes to build a program from scratch and the impact on students, with lessons you can apply immediately.
Session information forthcoming.
Pitching, planning, and launching a successful high school aviation program, with a clear roadmap for admins and educators.
Build a maintenance pathway and connect students to training and in-demand careers beyond the cockpit.
Options for engaging students in aircraft builds, from airport projects to formal manufacturing curricula.
Live demos and practical strategies to integrate drones from elementary through high school. Inclusive approaches for diverse learners.
Direct, affordable path to a professional pilot career, from training to transition to Republic Airways.
Round out your program with free and low-cost resources and flight opportunities from leading orgs.
Debunk common barriers about who can fly, cost, and complexity so you can guide students with facts.
Navigate grants, CTE funding, and other sources with a panel of experts.
Session information forthcoming.
Alumni stories, real-world pathways, and how technical training opens doors for students and classrooms.
AOPA's program and other major funding sources, with tips for strong applications to bring resources into your program.
Explore maintenance, manufacturing, medicine, law, CS, engineering, business, and more across the aviation ecosystem.
Study tools and approaches from leading providers to build confidence and boost pass rates.
Hands-on Drone Soccer to build FAA-aligned skills in coding, troubleshooting, and teamwork, plus how to start programs at school.
Session information forthcoming.
Discovery flights, scholarships, and partnerships that move students from classroom to cockpit.
Degree options in professional flight, management, maintenance, ATC, and drones, with guidance on applications and partnerships.
Free grades 6–8 curriculum built to dovetail with AOPA's high school program. Meet the dev team and peek under the cowling.
Survey of popular sims, emerging tech, and how to deploy them effectively in the classroom.
Ready-to-use kits and aviation resources that complement the AOPA High School Curriculum, offered via a single shop.
How AI tools are personalizing aviation education with enhanced sims, instructor dashboards, and motivation via leaderboards.
Open Q&A with AOPA Foundation staff and veteran curriculum teachers and admins.
Session information forthcoming.
How do you create thrilling, visually stunning scenes for a hit movie like Top Gun: Maverick? Find out from the pilot who flew them. U.S. Navy Commander Frank Weisser is a two-time Blue Angels pilot with three combat deployments, including to Afghanistan and Iraq. With more than 5,000 flight hours and nearly 500 carrier landings, Frank has earned numerous decorations, including multiple Meritorious Service Medals, Strike Flight Air Medals, and personal and unit awards. He’s also the pilot at the controls in many of Top Gun: Maverick’s most memorable and dangerous scenes, including the climactic high-speed flight through a narrow canyon.
Secure your spot at the AOPA Foundation's 2026 High School Aviation STEM Symposium and join colleagues from across the nation who are eager to shape the future of aviation STEM and CTE learning.
All-Inclusive Learning Experience
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