BEGINNINGS

IGNITE's SystemsGo Aeroscience program has fired up students and highlighted their accomplishments across America with its innovative approach to learning Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

It all began at Fredericksburg High School, in Fredericksburg, Texas.
In 1996, Brett Williams, a graduate of Texas A&M University and founder of SystemsGo, believed there was a better way to educate and motivate tomorrow's innovators. Drawing on his training in the sciences and his work in the private sector, he laid the foundation for what would become IGNITE in his Principles of Technology class. With administrative and community support, Williams's students began designing and launching rockets.

The classroom experience guided students through hands-on research, as well as design and development instruction within the engineering and technology design disciplines.

Through successes and failures, students picked up valuable life skills such as problem solving, testing, analysis, documentation, reporting, project management, teamwork, and communication.
Now - through IGNITE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization - the SystemsGo curriculum is shared with high schools across the state. The Aeroscience program, endorsed by NASA, is a two-year, junior/senior program in which first-year students design and develop remotely operated vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles for research or industrial applications. Second-year students design and fabricate rockets for testing at altitudes from 80,000 feet to 100,000 feet.

It began in Fredericksburg. Now it is spreading across the country.
The goal is to encourage students to explore the boundaries of space, while expanding their own boundaries as they launch themselves to become tomorrow's innovators.