- Hill Air Force Base will end its sponsorship of the Starbase program.
- The program, launched in 2011, has benefited over 25,000 Utah students.
- Funding changes and a robust local STEM network prompted this decision.
CLEARFIELD — A program empowering northern Utah children to discover the possibilities of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will end after more than a decade of operation.
This week, Hill Air Force Base announced that it is ending its sponsorship of the Starbase program.
Starbase, a U.S. Department of Defense program, is offered throughout the country to provide hands-on learning experiences to young students — primarily fifth graders, according to a description on the curriculum's website.
Starbase at Hill Air Force Base opened in 2011, and over the past 15 years, has ignited early STEM interest in more than 25,000 students in Davis and Weber counties.
Heather Ingle, a mother of two daughters — 14 and 11 — who have been in the program, said she was sad to hear that Starbase will no longer be offered at the northern Utah base.
"Just the thought of other kids not being able to have that guaranteed program, I think it's sad," she said.
Ingle's oldest daughter participated in the weeklong Starbase program in Montana while their family was stationed in the Great Falls area. More recently, her 11-year-old daughter participated in it at Hill Air Force Base while the family has been stationed in Utah.
She said her 14-year-old was "strongly influenced" through the exploration of hands-on science, technology, engineering and mathematics experience and has shifted her career goals around based on what she learned.
Her younger daughter, on the other hand, wasn't initially as interested in it.
"And then the first day happened, she came home and she loved it, and totally denied that she didn't want to go that day," Ingle told KSL. "She really enjoyed it — she likes to learn new things."
A Hill Air Force Base press release issued Tuesday didn't go into specifics about why they're concluding the program, but it did allude to a funding issue.
"Today, northern Utah benefits from a robust network of STEM programs, many of which were inspired or accelerated by Starbase's early success. This expansion, combined with changes in national program funding, marks a natural moment for transition. Concluding the program allows Hill AFB to realign resources to meet the growing demands of its core national security mission, confident that the community is well supported by a diverse and vibrant STEM landscape," the base said.
Starbase's final days at Hill Air Force Base raised a question for Ingle regarding the program's future elsewhere, as their family will soon be relocating back to Montana and hopes their youngest child has an opportunity to experience it.
"I have a 5-year-old as well, and I really am hoping that the Starbase program in general continues," she said.
A spokesperson for Hill Air Force Base said the program there will finish out the remainder of the school year and that it's still active "at some other bases currently."
Northern Utah benefits from a robust network of STEM programs, many of which were inspired or accelerated by Starbase's early success.
–Hill Air Force Base
The base said it's thankful to the many people who helped make Starbase a cornerstone in local STEM education.
"The base remains deeply committed to community partnership and will continue supporting educational outreach that inspires the next generation of innovators, leaders and problem‑solvers," the base said.
For Ingle, she's grateful for the opportunities her daughters have had at Starbase and for how it showed them a career they, too, can one day pursue.
"Outside of the doctor, lawyer, cop, firefighter — you know, it opens their eyes into so many different careers and specialties out there that you can touch, and I love that exposure," she said.
