By David Karas | Correspondent

Whether it is designing handmade kites to achieve maximum lift or crafting airplanes out of soda bottles to see how far they can fly, the students in St. Denis School, Manasquan, learn from more than just textbooks in science class.

And their teacher, Kathy Francis, has received regional recognition from the Civil Air Patrol for her efforts in integrating aerospace education into the classroom – an exercise that not only enriches the experience of her students, but dovetails with her own personal interests.

The Civil Aeronautics Board recently selected Francis as the Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) Northeast Region Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year, bestowed upon her because of her enthusiasm and excellence in her work with middle-school students in the CAP’s Aerospace Education Excellence Program. The initiative, which she was able to bring to her own classroom, aims to engage students in hands-on aviation and space-related STEM learning and activities.

Francis became interested in bringing aerospace education into the classroom based on her experience as a first-year Aerospace Education Member of the CAP. Her involvement has included a series of training programming available to her through CAP, as well as the chance to fly with members last summer.

Trudy Bonavita, principal, described Francis as a dedicated teacher who seeks to share her enthusiasm about science with her students.

“By using the curriculum standards as a guide, she fashions her activities and tests around hands-on projects designed to challenge the students to reach beyond their knowledge to find answers by giving them guidance and common everyday tools and materials to build their projects,” Bonavita said.

According to the Civil Air Patrol, the teacher of the year honor that Francis received at the regional level this year was “established to recognize and reward any Civil Air Patrol member who is a certified teacher for outstanding accomplishments in Aerospace Education and for possessing those honorable attributes we expect from American teachers.”

Nominees were required to be members, as well as certified teachers, who either teach aerospace education as a subject or use the discipline to enrich teaching of traditional subjects. Nominees were evaluated based on the standards they set for students, the creativity they bring to the classroom and the level of student engagement they reach, among other criteria.

In a letter nominating Francis for the honor, Bonavita praised the impact she has had on the St. Denis School community.

“Kathy makes the science lab come alive with her imaginative labs and projects, that not only teach the students what is contained in the books, but puts to work each and every idea,” she wrote. “The children love science, and Mrs. Francis’ classroom is the most popular with all ages of children in the school.”

She said that Francis’ classroom is a dynamic learning environment for students.

“At any given time, you will find the students working on rockets, circuitry, building environmentally sound cities for the future, and at the same time developing a love for the field of science,” she wrote. “Mrs. Francis does not depend on textbooks for her ideas, but rather hands on activities that will stimulate the imagination and at the same time effectively cover the material required for their grade level.”