Paul Gullickson, one of our RE@L colleagues, lives near the Fagen Engineering, Inc. in Granite Falls, MN. Paul is a frequent visitor to their air museum, recently alerted us to a very interesting locally-made video about Fagen’s continued efforts to build a WW2 Air Museum.
That museum will honor those many who have fought for our freedom. Fagen has committed to rebuild many of the very famous WW2 aircraft that were bravely flown by military pilotsover 75 years ago.
Click on the graphic at the left to learn more about the extensive Fagen air museum.
Many Armed Forces vets who have flown during their years of service still come by to visit the Fagen museum. There is much to see in this building which is full of testament to their bravery and skills. 
We must not forget the triumph of American engineering and industrial might. The latter of course is where the K12 STEM curriculum comes in.
The Fagen Museum contains many rebuilt, restored military aircraft of their time.
Click the graphic to the right to see the array of aircraft, vehicles, murals, and stories told.
Pioneer Public Television, a local PBS TV station did a primetime special on the FagenMuseum’s efforts that’s also well worth watching. Click on their graphic to the left for more information.
We at RE@L applaud their efforts to tell these powerful stories, and hope to help expand their message to include the recent national initiatives to bring STEM into American classrooms everywhere.
RE@LBlog has focused on the importance of both girls and boys taking Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics courses in middle and high school so they can consider the many, exciting careers in this area.
RE@L is strongly committed to STEM for both our young women and young men. We didn’t have STEM in our schools during WW2, but we did have many young men who graduated from high school, having taken mathematics and science. Their can-do attitude and skills helped change the world and brought us peace with their skills, bravery and efforts.
It has been remarked that the US held a significant advantage over their enemies back then, as virtually every young soldier already knew how to drive a car or a truck. They took quickly to learning to fly military aircraft too. They were motivated learners, and quick to master more complicated technical equipment.
Our young women then were also capable and ready-to-learn students, operating complex machinery in the many war plants, as young men everywhere were being drafted to serve and fight for their country. Women’s contributions were greatly significant. They were a significant part of our war effort, building thousands of aircraft and other military equipment. Painted back in 1943 by then famous master-painter Norman Rockwell, gave us the famous “Rosie the Riveter” magazine cover on The Saturday Evening Post Magazine. It’s still a classic graphic. See below.
Many women proved to be excellent pilots too, ferrying fighter and bomber aircraft from the US to England and the Pacific. It wasn’t a case of “anything you can do I can do better.” But it did show that women could often do many things just as well as men, including learning complex technologies and engineering.
While students back in those years didn’t have STEM as we know it today, women and men each possessed an affinity and a desire to learn math, science and technology on their skilled engineering jobs. The skills they learned often led to good jobs after the war was ended.
Students today still have that ability to learn these skills, including the interest and dedication to make it happen. We remain very proud of young students today, particularly young women who step up and learn new and demanding STEM skills, including ones requiring science and math in middle and high schools.
No, it’s no longer “Rosie the Riveter” out there making our technology advances. Now, it’s our young “Rosies the Robot-Makers.” There are now as many, new STEM job opportunities out there as there are names of the girls and boys, men and women who are learning the needed skills to build a better world. There’s a great opportunity here!
So, girls, boys, parents and teachers, RE@L urges you to learn more about STEM. A STEM career could be in your future. The world has never needed it more.