Brigadier General Kenneth McGill, former commander of the 138th Fighter Wing of Tulsa Air National Guard, learned about the youth program after his Public Affairs personnel, 2nd Lt. Kimberly (Maloy) Howerton and TSgt Michael Bennett, had attended a conference where the program was highlighted. Believing that the youth of Oklahoma deserved the program, they, along with Air Force Advisor, Lt. Col. Tom Hughes, commenced to organize Oklahoma. Although funding was not available at the time, support of the program by volunteers from the Air National Guard and the local community was strong, so without funding or supplies, Oklahoma began a pilot program conducted in Tulsa in July of 1993. The primary focus of this program was on fourth through sixth grade children, placing special emphasis on reaching out to minorities and at-risk youth. In order for a school to qualify for the program, the National Guard Bureau established the criterion of a minority student population of at least 50% and/or 65% of the student body participating in the free or reduced lunch program. Tulsa Public Schools selected 20 students from two schools that met the "at-risk" criterion, and the first Academy was underway. In order to conduct the class, a base facility was converted into a classroom and volunteers donated supplies, time and talent. By the end of the summer, two schools with high Native American populations had been added to the Oklahoma program.

     In September of 1993, at the request of the Governor and the Adjutant General of the Oklahoma National Guard, the National Guard Bureau funded Oklahoma for a three-year period, with the agreement that the program would expand and become self-supporting. Full time staff members were hired, supplies were purchased and regular Academies were being held at the Air National Guard Base in Tulsa.

     The program expanded by providing Teacher Training Institutes so more students could be reached by the unique hands-on material that were being developed and taught by the staff. The Tulsa Air Guard Base and its enthusiastic volunteers continued to work on improving the program by providing office space for the staff as well as renovating buildings for teaching the academies. In the summer of 1995, Oklahoma moved into a permanent, well-equipped classroom.

     In 1996, Federal Funds were decreased. The State of Oklahoma provided additional funding for the program to make up the shortfall and increase the ever-growing program. The state funding and private funding increased each succeeding year. In May of 2000, Major General Stephen P. Cortright , Oklahoma's Adjutant General, announced the opening of our second site in Oklahoma City. The site was to be operated on limited state and private funding. In June he requested federal funding for that site. Funding was approved in Nov 2000 for the second site to begin operation in January 2000.

     The program now operates 35 Academies each year from the Tulsa Air National Guard Base in cooperation with various schools in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City site at Will Rogers Air National Guard base also operates 35 academies yearly for schools in the Oklahoma City area. Twenty one school districts throughout the state participate in the extension program.

In September 2003, a full decade after declaring the intention to target Native American students, Oklahoma was tapped to conduct a three-year Native American Initiative with federal funding. The program had initially targeted schools with high Native American populations but because many of them were more than 75 miles or more from Tulsa . Woodall Elementary School and Locust Grove Elementary began attending Tulsa classes in 1993. Woodall is the only school to attend classes at STARBASE Oklahoma every year since it began.

In STARBASE Oklahoma Native American Initiative's first six weeks of operation, the program had already exceeded the outreach of the two previous programs funded by National Guard Bureau. Classrooms were opened at Camp Gruber near Braggs, Okla. , Pryor's Whitaker Education and Training Campus operated by the Oklahoma National Guard and the Anadarko Armory. In 2008, the Anadarko Armory was closed as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closing Commission's plan to consolidated armories. The Anadarko classroom was closed and the NAI classroom was moved to Davis Field in Muskogee where there had been a STARBASE classroom for one year, 2006-07, funded by the STARBASE Oklahoma Inc.

Also in August of 2009, the leadership at Fort Sill applied to begin a STARBASE classroom at Fort Sill to answer the Lawton community's request for returning STARBASE to their classrooms. Fort Sill 's commanding general Major General Pete Vangjel signed an agreement with Oklahoma National Guard Adjutant General Major General Harry M. "Bud" Wyatt to operate the program. The Lawton classroom filled every class within one week of the announcement.

STARBASE students complete 30 hours of instruction including taking a field trip to one of the three major military installation's sponsoring the program. The visit either the Tulsa Air National Guard Base in Tulsa to see the aircraft and visit with unit members about a variety of careers; the Will Roger Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma to see a variety of aircraft including the KC-135 refueler flown by the 137th Refueling Wing or a variety of Oklahoma Army National Guard units as well life support, fire department; or, they attend field day at Fort Sill and are introduced to the Multiple Launch Rocket System and Fires Support, Fort Sill Museum and other areas. All students hear the Oklahoma National Guard's Counterdrug team's presentation on staying away from drugs and alcohol. They also experience the Native American night sky in the inflatable planetarium or at Fort Sill , in a real planetarium on post.

The cadets' instruction includes physics, the properties of air, mathematics, the properties of flight, hydroponics, scientific method, teambuilding, goal setting and rocketry. All materials are provided to the students free of charge including pencils, paper, and for the upper elementary the rockets, engines and other materials for their instruction; and for the lower elementary their kites, pinwheels, rocket cars and other materials needed.

Three years ago, all STARBASE sites were directed to include engineering in their curriculum and two years ago, seven states were given 3-Dimension printers. These printers actually "print" the lab modules the students design using the PTC ProDesktop software provided free of charge to all STARBASE sites. Oklahoma was one of the first 18 states to receive a 3-Dimension Printers and it is located at Camp Gruber . Oklahoma received a second printer in August 2008 before more than 30 of the almost 60 national program sites. This printer is in Tulsa at the Tulsa Air National Guard Base classroom.

STARBASE Oklahoma currently hosts seven classrooms throughout the state of Oklahoma. Classrooms at Davis Field in Muskogee , Camp Gruber near Braggs and in Pryor are designated as Native American Initiative classrooms and seek classes with 50 percent Native American populations. Through eight years of working with the program, we have averaged more than 70 percent Native American. Students self-identify their ethnicity. The other classrooms are in Tulsa , Oklahoma City and Fort Sill along with the Burns Flat classroom which is funded by the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority at Oklahoma 's Spaceport.