Thanks to generous donations from community and county foundations, the Kansas Starbase of Salina program has been restored after being temporarily suspended.
On Tuesday, February 4th, 2025 the Department of Defense (DoD) Starbase Kansas program was suspended due to a continuing resolution gap in U.S. government funding. The program is known to be one of the largest programs that impacts elementary and middle school students across the nation. Each year, the program requires congressional support and it receives funding from the U.S. federal government.
Once the suspension occurred, one essential employee at each site of Starbase were able to still be on staff. However, a full staff of five employees were put on unpaid leave and could not continue with the program temporarily. But just when things seemed hopeless, a light at the end of the tunnel was starting to show.
Starbase Salina Director, Billie Jones took a visit to Lincoln elementary in the McPherson USD 418 school district during the suspension. Throughout her visit teaching students, the McPherson County Community Foundation understood what had happened to the program and thought to help. Jones tells KSAL News, the McPherson Co. Community Foundation wanted to raise awareness about the suspension and created a video to raise awareness about the issue. The video highlighted qualities and what the program offers. It also encourages people and other community/county foundations to send a donation.
The Greater Salina Community Foundation (GSCF) was already on board to support and along with the McPherson Co. Community Foundation, Starbase Salina received $25,000 from both foundations. This was enough to bring back 3 staff members and the program was able to be restored. The donations were put towards the non-profit organization Kansas Starbase Inc. which provides support to the Starbase programs. The non-profit in turn are funding the salaries for the employees that are currently on staff
Jones stated how important this program is to the community and how thrilled they are to be back in the classrooms.
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Just as of Thursday, March 27th Starbase Salina received enough funds from the federal government to bring back a full staff till the end of this current school year.
Executive Director Melissa Peat tells KSAL News, they plan on using the donations from GSCF and the McPherson Co. Community Foundation towards the program’s summer camps. This will help guarantee a summer program, thanks to the donations.
“With this community support, we can be a more reliable and consistent provider of these services. This experience has been a roller coaster of funding shortfalls, putting staff on unpaid leave, our non-profit rallying for support and then bringing back Starbase employees to Salina. These donations allow students in Salina and the surrounding communities to experience the Starbase academy” said Peat.
Peat commented on how important this program is for students and how it positively impacts their lives.
“Kids look forward to their 5th grade trip to Starbase and these experiences change the projection of what these students do with their lives” said Peat.
Director of Development for the McPherson Co. Community Foundation, Jim Ostlund told KSAL News they certainly wanted to see the Starbase program return not just for the students but for the teachers that feel they may not have the equipment or expertise to teach. He mentioned that the video was meant to get the “ball rolling” for other organizations that wanted to see the program get restored.
“We were hoping to help inspire others across the state to get involved and we have heard stories from other foundations that they are seeing contributions pickup through this process. Being able to provide the resources needed for the program felt like it was a vital part of not just education, but the future of our community” said Ostlund.
Starbase Salina serves 14 surrounding counties including McPherson and Saline counties.
Since 1992, the DoD Starbase Kansas program has helped more than 126,000 students apply Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design and Mathematics (STEAM) to daily life. It serves 90 sites across the U.S., five of them being in Kansas (Salina, Manhattan, Topeka, Kansas City and Wichita). The program provides 25 hours of STEAM curriculum to 5th graders at military installations, giving students an opportunity to interact with military personnel as well. Middle schoolers are put through the advanced 2.0 program that involves fields such as cyber security, computer science, rocketry and engineering. The advanced 3.0 program partners with JROTC programs, which teaches robotics and the engineering design process to JROTC cadets.
For information on the Kansas Starbase program, visit https://www.kansasstarbase.org/
Video Courtesy of DoD Starbase Salina and the McPherson County Community Foundation:
Photos Courtesy of Salina USD 305:
