LOS ANGELES — Base 11 announced today the launch of its “STEM Revolution” beginning at West Los Angeles College, a program which will propel 11,000 high-potential, low-resource community college students across the country into the “Victory Circle” by 2020, starting in Los Angeles County, CA, and spreading to 10 other cities across the United States in the next 36 months (next up: Detroit and Southern Nevada).

Base 11 provides funding, equipment, facilities and curriculum for hands-on STEM education and training, including unmanned aircraft systems (drones) for civilian use, micro satellites, and STEM entrepreneurialism, including the installation of MIT-originated Fab Labs. The Fab Labs (or fabrication laboratories) will provide a workspace for students to create, design and develop STEM-based technologies. For the highest performing students, Base 11 facilitates scholarships and paid internship opportunities. The goal for all of its programs is to lead participating students directly into the Base 11 “Victory Circle.”

The Base 11 “Victory Circle” is achieved by reaching one or more of the following:

  • Admission to a four-year university to pursue a STEM-related major
  • Employment in a well-paid STEM-related job
  • Development of a STEM-related business enterprise as a STEM entrepreneur

“Human development will prove to be the industrial revolution of the 21st century,” said Landon Taylor, chief executive officer of Base 11. “Our focus is to fuel the revolution with the STEM workforce and entrepreneurs of the 21st century.”

Corporate and institutional partners including Caltech, Detroit Aircraft Company, Interorbital Systems and National College Resource Foundation have joined with Base 11 to bring this new dream to high potential, low-resource community college students across the country.

“As the unmanned aircraft systems industry continues to grow, our partnership with Base 11 will position thousands of well trained students for well paid jobs, at our company and in the unmanned aircraft systems industry at large,” said Jon Rimanelli, chief executive officer of Detroit Aircraft Corporation.

Programs and partnerships announced today at West Los Angeles College, an accredited community college that will give students a direct path to the Victory Circle, include:

  • Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones) flight, maintenance and design
  • Micro satellite build and launch program
  • The Caltech Aerospace Mentorship Program for STEM Students
  • The Base 11 STEM-Entrepreneurial Innovation Program
  • The Base 11 Aerospace Fellowship Program
  • Paid internships at the Detroit Aircraft Company and Interorbital Systems Corporation

At today’s Base 11 “STEM Revolution” launch at West Los Angeles College, high school students from local feeder high schools and current West students were introduced to others already enrolled in the Base 11 program, heard from employers like Detroit Aircraft Company and Caltech who are waiting at the end of the Victory Circle to hire qualified students, and participated in hands-on drone demonstrations, drone software coding and an up-close tour of the West Los Angeles College Aviation Department’s aircraft hangar.

“We are thrilled to be a partner in the Base 11 STEM Revolution,” said Dr. Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, president of West Los Angeles College. “This program will train students for lucrative careers that will contribute to global competitiveness. West Los Angeles College’s educational philosophy will ensure that these incredible industry resources will prepare students to adapt to careers and technologies that have yet to be invented. The community college is home to American know-how and inventiveness, and this partnership will unleash the unbounded imaginations of students for whom our college is the only viable path.”

Research indicates that the number of U.S. companies reporting difficulty in filling positions because of a lack of STEM skills grew from 14% in 2010 to 40% in 2013.* The U.S. economy needs programs like the Base 11 STEM Revolution to boost students’ STEM skills and empower them to successfully fill these growing workforce demands.

Base 11 plans to expand its programs and operations to Detroit, MI and Southern Nevada by the summer of 2015, and to eight additional cities across the United States by the end of 2017.

About Base 11
Base 11 is a non-profit public benefit corporation focused on empowering high-potential, low-resource community college students with hands-on education and training in STEM-related enterprises. Base 11 partners with community colleges and their feeder high schools to provide high-potential, low-resource students with real-world training, experience and mentorship in STEM-related enterprises, delivering to employers a pre-recruitment pipeline of well-trained, highly skilled STEM employees and entrepreneurs.

For more information, please visit www.Base11.com. Base 11 is a DBA of the Center for Innovations in Education, a non-profit 501(c) 3 – IRS exemption EIN# 26-4365936.

*From www.ChangeTheEquation.org STEMtistics Workforce.