NAR Extracurricular Activity Grant

« Grants and Scholarships

Eligibility

  1. The application deadline for participating in the NAR Extracurricular Activity Grant program is June 1. All applications must be emailed or postmarked by this date.
  2. Applicant must be a member or representative of an organization providing educational activities for children and be 21 years of age or older.
  3. Eligible organizations are schools and organizations, for example, NAR Sections, 4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, Challenger Centers, museums, etc. that provide extracurricular educational activities involving model rocketry.
  4. Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and Student Launch Initiative (SLI) teams are not eligible. Activity must include model rockets. Water rockets, paper/straw rockets or similar are not eligible.
  5. Activities in their first year are eligible, however priority will be given to ongoing programs.
  6. You must be willing to have your brief activity description posted on the NAR web page.
  7. You must be willing to submit a link to resources on your web site that can be cited on the NAR web site, and/or an article for the NAR Educators Newsletter, and possibly for the NAR magazine Sport Rocketry. The article can be about a past activity. Our newsletter and magazine editors are available for assistance as necessary. (If you are a multiple award recipient, this requirement is waived.)

Note: We encourage you to partner with your local NAR section for additional support.

How to Apply for the Extracurricular Activity Grant

Each application is reviewed by a committee of NAR members—these members consist of present and former trustees, the chairperson of the education committee, and two or more members-at-large.

When you are submitting your application, consider the following judging criteria. Each member judges the application based on a “scoring guide” that consists of the following criteria:

  • General Evaluation;
  • Type of Activity and Need;
  • Involvement and Enthusiasm;
  • Academic Measure;
  • Safety;
  • Publicity and NAR Affiliation; and
  • Subjective Evaluation.

Let’s briefly look at these points:

General Evaluation—Is the application complete and legible, signed, and dated?

Type of Activity and Need—Are the lesson materials based on materials already available or did you develop your own? Is this the first year of your activity or have you carried out this activity before. How many children will take part in the activity, what age/grade level and how many councilors/proctors are involved in each stage of the activity? Is there a financial need of any kind? For example, are your trying to expand the activity, are you using your own money or donations?

Involvement and Enthusiasm—Are you enthusiastic about the activity? Are other members of the extracurricular program involved, or parents, some youth organization, the local hobby shop? Is there any public relations activity done either within the school or in the community?

Academic Measure—Are sound scientific principles being taught and is the activity age appropriate? Is the activity only a day, a week, or longer? Please submit an outline, synopsis, and illustrations/pictures of your activity. We want to know what you are teaching and how rocketry is helping you teach. If you are using an already published activity, please reference the activity. Do not submit a copy of it.

Safety—What safety measures are being implemented, especially for the launch portion of the program? Are you familiar with the NAR Safety Code?

Publicity and NAR Affiliation—We are looking to see if you are attempting to create interest in model rocketry by involving the school, your community or by getting published in the local newspaper or being on the evening news. The application states that you do not have to be a NAR member to apply for the award. We encourage the use of our educational services, our members, and our sections (clubs). If you need help or assistance, NAR members are great at volunteering to help you with building or launch instructions. It has been our experience that although the “science” is not too difficult to master, many educators have little or no experience in the building and launching of the models.

Subjective Evaluation—This area is not defined, as each committee member responsible for “scoring” the application looks at what you have written and applies their own analysis to the material. We do not compare scores or notes among our members, so there is no “bias” to the scoring.

If you have any questions or require further help, feel free to contact Dr. Claude V. Maina at claudevmaina@gmail.com

Be sure to follow the instructions to get the most benefit from your application. Your “obligation” upon receiving an award is to provide a brief article about your activity (with photos, if possible) to be used on the NAR web site or NAR Educator Newsletter.

Either download and fill out these forms or use the online form below to submit your application online.

Here is a Example application for both Robert L Cannon Award and Extracurricular Activity Grant.

Online Extracurricular Activity Grant Application

National Association of Rocketry – EAG Application (pdf)

    Institution

    Institution Name:

    Institution Address:

    School Type:
    PublicPrivateOther

    If other, please explain:

    Applicant Information

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Position at school, if not teacher

    If NAR member, what is you NAR#:

    Activity Participants

    Grade Level of participants (check all that apply):

    K123456789101112

    Number of participants

    Are the participants members of a demographic group that is historically underrepresented in STEM? Explain:

    Activity Description

    Give a description of the rocketry program, including specific lessons, activities, and assignments. State the overall goal of the program and how it is to be accomplished. List National, state, or local standards or benchmarks addressed. 2000 word maximum. You may enter it below or upload it as a separate pdf document. If a third party lesson is used, upload it as well.

    Upload a .pdf file:

    Abstract (200 words maximum):

    Continuation Plans

    Do you plan to continue this activity in future years?
    YesNo

    If you answered yes, please explain your plans:

    Has this activity been supported by a NAR grant before?
    YesNo

    Have you done this specific activity before?
    YesNo

    If yes, how will this activity be improved or refined this time?

    Facilities

    Briefly explain the facilities involved, including the launch field, if applicable

    Will the local NAR club be involved?
    YesNo

    Publicity

    Will parents, other spectators, or local press be present?

    Expenses

    Explain how you will use the award money – We don’t need a detailed budget.

    Eligibility

    I have read the eligibility requirements and I believe that this activity satisfies those requirements.

    Institution receiving funds (if application if funded):

    Institution address:

    Please check the file size of your attachments. If they are over 10 megabytes, please submit without the attachments and make a note and someone will contact you for the attachments.