What actually happened, year by year.
Every Academy ends with an after-action review. These are the results — the numbers, the photographs, and the press coverage, published in full.
STEM YEA 2026
Astrobiology: the Search for Life on Mars
Sixty-four students from 35 schools across District 7430 spent four days building Mars habitats, landers and rovers — then defended their reasoning to parents at the Al Engel Science Fair.
Kutztown University opened its labs: a scanning electron microscope students operated themselves, ground-penetrating radar demonstrations, and JPL interns who had charted the Mars Rover's path walking students through the decisions.
Moments from STEM YEA →Operating a scanning electron microscope
Dr. Kurt Friehauf let students run KU's SEM themselves — instrumentation most won't touch until graduate school.
Rocket fuel, in microcosm
Dr. Dan Blanchard had students test component ratios and find an optimal formula by experiment.
Charting the rover's path
KU interns Maria Clark and Liz Delarosa brought students inside real mission decisions — what would you do?
Twenty-six moments from the Academy
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The full archive
STEM YEA 2026
64 students · 35 schools · 25 sponsoring clubs · 40 volunteers · 240 at the Celebration Dinner
STEM YEA 2025
56 registered, 54 completed · 32 schools · 25 Rotary Club sponsors · 42 volunteers · no accidents or injuries
STEM YEA 2024
55 students · 21 Rotary Club sponsors · 42 volunteers · July 11–14 at Kutztown University, with a planetarium show by Dr. Phil Reed
STEM YEA 2023
45 students · 42 volunteers · July 6–9 at Kutztown University — the first year on the Astrobiology theme
STEM YEA 2022
The inaugural Academy at Albright College’s Science Research Institute — 41 students from 21 Rotary Clubs across five counties, with a Moon Watch and a NASA astronaut at the Celebration Dinner
Independent coverage
Rotary Clubs host STEM Youth Explorers Academy at Kutztown University
Read the article →
Rotary's STEM YEA program empowers 8th grade students across five counties
Read the article →
Local broadcast coverage of the Academy week at Kutztown University
Watch the segment →A four-day, three-night residential STEM academy for nominated 7th graders, funded by the Rotary Clubs of District 7430 and hosted at Kutztown University. Funds are administered by the Allentown West Rotary Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3).
