GETTING EXCITED ABOUT A SECRET!
Education Through Aviation
By Kyle Jaracz, Education Director | kylej@modelaircraft.org
Hey, psssst .... You there... Yes, you. Skimming the back of the magazine, are you? It’s obvious that you know where to find the best tips in the publication, so before you skip past this article in the “AMA News” section, let me fill you in on a secret or two.
Did you know that the AMA Education team works to get resources out into communities such as yours all year round, and the best part of this secret is that they’re free? I know, I know—keep your voice down though. We don’t want everyone to hear it. If members knew that a portion of their dues went to facilitate the delivery of brochures, magazines, balsa gliders, FPG-9s, and the like to members doing great work around the nation, we might have more interested youth than we know what to do with, and we definitely don’t want that news getting out too broadly.
What’s that you say? You know just where these would be useful? Oh, you’re right! These items would be perfect for a parade, school visits, after-school programs, science days, community festivals, arts walks, open houses, and anywhere that an individual might be interested in learning about this hobby.
Oh, hang on a minute, you look like you might be getting a bit excited about all of this ... I don’t know about sharing it with the club; after all, this is supposed to be our little secret. If everyone were to step up and start requesting these free resources, we might actually have a real problem keeping the lid on the best hobby out there.
Yup, you’re right. A hobby such as ours forces us to think like scientists, use technology, engineer solutions, and muddle through the math of various projects, all while using our hands to create aircraft that lead us into the sky. Some of us even go on to compete with others in our community of aviation enthusiasts. After that, the skills we’ve learned can lead to quality careers in aviation, not to mention the soft skills we learn along the way that make us better qualified to complete any task ahead of us.
Whoa, hold up there! If news got out about all of those opportunities, I don’t know what we’d do with those people. We might have to open up some new clubs or expand what we already have. Oh, speaking of clubs, I heard that we even have specifically geared chartering processes for youth such as our Model Aviation Student Clubs and University Model Aviation Student Clubs.
Definitely don’t share this with any educators you might know, either. It’s not like we have free educator kits for classroom teachers with a full curriculum sent for free, along with multiple Free Flight aircraft and STEM-focused materials. Yikes! Can you imagine if word got out? I don’t know if there’s room in the sky for all of that commotion.
Mum’s the word!
