STARward STEM began as a three-year program designed to ignite student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through transdisciplinary project-based learning in the classroom, and STEM enrichment activities with industry experts beyond the classroom. The goal is to create “STAR moments” for students that will be “Something They’ll Always Remember!” as a way to inspire America’s future STEM leaders with opportunities to lead discovery and technological innovation efforts. Each year, the program culminates with a student design challenge that engages student teams in designing and proposing an experiment that explores a possible solution to a problem experienced by astronauts in space. Winning projects have the opportunity to build their experiment and test it in simulated microgravity conditions and to travel to a NASA facility for a space-themed learning field trip. STARward STEM was started through a National Defense Education Program (NDEP) grant provided by the U.S. Department of Defense STEM. The program is now funded by donations from community donors. The program focuses on Space and aims to combine the wonder of cutting-edge scientific discovery with real-world applications that ignite students’ creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

• STARward STEM Homepage

• 2025 STARward STEM Expo-March 27, 2025

• 2025 STARward STEM Expo: Industry Exhibits

• STARward STEM 2024 Finalists by School

STARward STEM
2465 Gillespie Street
Fayetteville, NC 28306

Phone: (910) 678-2422
Fax: (910) 678-2620


Dr. Lavette Braswell
Assistant Superintendent, K-12 Instructional Programs

Sandie W. Faulk
Administrative Assistant