iLEAD Schools, a network of free, public charter schools across California, the Midwest and Hawaii, will host “Mission 2019 – DreamUp to Space!”, a Space & Innovation Expo featuring student aerospace projects.

The second annual event will be held from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. on Dec. 7 at College of the Canyons’ Valencia Campus in Santa Clarita.

The expo is presented in partnership with College of the Canyons Makerspace and DreamUp, a company providing space-based education to students and entrepreneurs, and is free and open to the public.

The expo will begin in the East Gymnasium with highlights from the Mission 2018 launch team, which will have just returned from observing the launch of their experiment aboard the Space X16 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Remarks from keynote speaker Al Bowers, Chief Scientist, NASA Armstrong, will follow. Students from iLEAD Schools campuses across Los Angeles County – including Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Antelope Valley – will then present their ideas for space experiments that could be sent to the International Space Station.

The expo will also feature a showcase of Learners’ mission patch artwork and innovations in the Makerspace and Cafeteria. The event will also offer interactive, hands-on opportunities such as space art, LED rotocoptors, flight simulators, laser-printed badges, and a pop-up planetarium.

The Space & Innovation Expo underscores iLEAD’s commitment to engage students in project-based and deeper learning experiences and to further their understanding of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art & design, and mathematics), according to Kathleen Fredette, director of STEAM Initiatives for iLEAD Schools. For the last several years, under Fredette’s guidance, iLEAD learners have learned to fly glider aircraft, developed and sent experiments to the International Space Station and worked on scientific projects alongside NASA scientists.

“At iLEAD Schools, we’re committed to giving our students the tools to investigate, explore, and respond to complex, real-life questions,” Fredette said. “Our STEAM curriculum far eclipses what they’d learn in a traditional textbook – instead, our learners are actively collaborating to find real solutions to real problems. Our Space & Innovation Expo culminates a semester’s worth of project-based inquiry across all of our iLEAD school sites, and we look forward to welcoming students and families from all over Los Angeles County to this incredible event.”

To register, visit https://ileadaerospace.org/event/2nd-annual-space-innovation-expo/.