By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Jun 28, 2012 at 12:07 PM

NASA has awarded the Milwaukee Public Museum a grant of $588,467 to establish an extracurricular science education program for high school students in inner city.

Dubbed CREATE (Creating Relevant Education in Astronomy Through Experience), the program will be produced in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Great Milwaukee. The curriculum will span three years, with 20 new students beginning the program each year.

Participants will be immersed in the process of producing a planetarium show. During the first year, students will be involved in a NASA club and be mentored in communication skills, media development, and NASA program-based experiences and experiments. During the second and third years, they will apply their experiences in practical ways, resulting in a full-dome planetarium program and DVD for use in classroom and YouTube presentations. 

"For our teen Club members, CREATE makes science hands-on and fun to learn," said Vincent Lyles, President & CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. "CREATE also has the potential to inspire them to pursue science, technology, engineering and math-related careers and that bodes well for everyone."