Jonathan Stroud wears many hats in the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Jonathan, an engineer, is spending the first few years of his professional career working out of Los Angeles Air Force Base, teaching pre-K through high school students about future possibilities in space.

“We have such cool opportunities to teach students about space,” says Jonathan. “We visit schools and talk to the kids and answer their questions about space. We conduct a paper rocket and pneumatic rocket launcher activity that teaches the kids a little bit about rockets, aerodynamics, and space in general.”

Jonathan and his team show students what makes rockets fly, and answer questions like “What satellites are out in space?” or “What kind of missions are in store for those satellites?” For the younger grades, lessons focus on “What is space?” and “What is gravity?” The Space Force engineers want to make sure that students are learning about foundational concepts of engineering and that they are exposed to exciting learning and career opportunities at a young age.

Middle and high school students are invited to visit Los Angeles Air Force Base to see things in person, such as model spacecraft, historical artifacts, and multimedia presentations about space missions. “We work very closely with our history office to bring previous space missions to life for the kids,” says Jonathan. “It’s really exciting.”

Jonathan is inspired by all the opportunities in STEM: “There’s technological advances all the time. We’re in this AI age with artificial intelligence and machine learning being developed and perfected. Phones were being developed not too long ago. The pace that technology can be invented and implemented is amazing. New rocket technology is being developed now. New boosters are being landed. All of these new rocket companies are developing new ways to actually send our capabilities up into space. It’s just really cool!”