| Millions for Education of Our Youth |
For over fifty years, the Gulf Coast Chapter (GCC) of the NDIA has been supporting the Eglin Air Force Base AF Weapons Development Center with the Air Armament Symposium (AAS). During this time, this group has grown to over 1000 members—all volunteers. Coordination between government, industry and community in hosting the AAS has led to the AAS becoming a nationally recognized event. The AAS provides a more efficient exchange of ideas and information addressing resources and capabilities for national assets in support of goals for defense of the country— foreign and domestic.
Initially, the AAS was held on Eglin Air Force Base. This limited the attendance. In 2005, with support of NDIA National, the GCC began holding the AAS at the new Emerald Coast Conference Center in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. This move allowed the enlargement of the event, enhancing Industry participation. Attendance grew from a few hundred to over 1500.
In addition to the objective of increased communication between the Defense Department, Industry, and the local community by utilizing the proceeds of the event, the GCC has a goal of enhancing STEM in the local education system, starting with small donations to STEM related projects and initial support of higher level institutions with modest grants and endowments. The GCC Endowment program started by offering local college/universities with matching funds of a $25K donation. The goal was to reach a $100K level at each school. The program eventually grew to endowments now valued at $100K to $500K at six universities/colleges, each with GCC monitoring all activities with Board supervision and reporting.
The growing success of the AAS has added to other worthwhile efforts with local STEM ties. Programs such as Science Fairs, Special Needs, Focused Engineering and Science centers have added over $50K annually.
The GCC’s first ACCEL grant was $20,136 in 2007 for local schools within our three counties to offer projects managed by schools overseeing teachers/students on chapter approved and funded projects. Its immediate success, along with continued growth of the AAS event, prompted expanding classes down to middle school and elementary level, embracing STEM to a new level. These grants have grown to over $75K annually.
Over the past 19 years, the ACCEL program has been able to touch the 109 schools in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties. Since its beginning, over $1M has been donated to support our ACCEL program, allowing the early foundation of STEM education possible.
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 Scholarships Purpose & Requirements |
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| Scholarship & Grant News |
 The 2025 NDIA ACCEL Grant Recipients have been announced! |
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