National Guard launches mobile education lab

  • Published
  • By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
  • National Guard Bureau
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  As part of the president's "Educate to Innovate" initiative, National Guard officials debuted The Energy Lab -- a mobile classroom featuring interactive learning tools focusing on the science and technology behind alternative energy sources.

Unveiled Oct. 1 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, The Energy Lab is part of the Guard's Mobile Learning Center program, which is slated to visit schools in 10 states starting in October and running through early 2011.

The mobile lab will also provide a unique exposure to science and math for a number of schools and communities that may have limited access to educational resources.

"Visiting high schools and armories in underserved communities, the Mobile Learning Center will focus on technology while helping students explore energy efficiency and alternative energy sources," said Chief Master Sgt. Denise Jelinski-Hall, the senior enlisted advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Engaging students in the sciences and technology is key to building interest in studying those fields, she said.

"Somebody has to get people fascinated or interested in technology and science and (the) mobile Energy Lab, it seems to me, will tap into that interest and fascination," said Congresswoman for the District of Columbia Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The lab does that by providing interactivity through video game-type technology that run scenarios in which students learn about science and engineering and must apply that knowledge to navigate through the scenario.

The program focuses on student's interests, such as computers and interactive games, while providing a different way to look at how science and engineering can be applied, said Chief Jelinski-Hall.

Geared toward high school juniors and seniors, the lab works to help introduce science and technology concepts to those who often are written off as being too far along to become interested in the sciences.

"It's geared toward students who are ... in the 11th and 12th grade," said Congresswoman Norton. "What this mobile Energy Lab does is to say wait a minute, there is a way to tap into the fascination of young people today at fairly advanced ages so that they become truly interested in technology."

Building on that interest in science and technology and providing the vehicle to expose students to those concepts fits in with the guard's community-based structure.

"It is also totally fitting and appropriate that the National Guard spearhead this initiative," said Chief Jelinski-Hall. "We are the face of your communities in all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia."

However, in the end it, comes back to building communities and providing value for a better future for those in the community.

"Education is the key," said Chief Jelinski-Hall. "The mobile Learning Center will help prepare our children for a future filled with the hope of prosperity, happiness and security. They deserve nothing less."