Inspiring the Youth in Aviation

I love aviation.  I love flying.  #Duh.  Everyone who knows me knows that I love flying, airplanes, and anything aviation.  I'm so obsessed that I pretty much impulsively buy anything that's got an airplane on it.  Like the airplane ribbon I found at Michael's the other day... I still haven't found a use for it yet, but still. It had an airplane on it, how could I not buy it?  I'm sure a craft idea will pop in my head someday :)

ANYHOW.  One of my other biggest passions is "inspiring the youth in aviation".  I absolutely LOVE showing other people, especially the future generation, about aviation.  Giving EAA Young Eagle flights is something I love, and I also believe that it is very important.  With the upcoming pilot shortage, I firmly believe that it is vital to get our youth interested in aviation.

As a part of a class project, I worked with several classmates on hosting 3 classes from a local middle school at our university airport for a fun day of learning about aviation and collegiate aviation.  Although the planning process was stressful, it turned out to be a great event.

We had planned this event from about February, but with a lot of snowfall we had to reschedule the event to late April.

We invited the local Middle School and had a great time!  We had various event stations where the students could learn about aviation related items such as lift, thrust, Bernoulli's Principal, pre-flight essentials, airport operations, and more.

One girl in particular in my group gave me the best compliment of the day though... after a morning full of airport touring, learning about the forces of flight, and red bird simulators... she said that I was her idol and she wanted to be just like me.  I honestly couldn't think of any greater compliment.  She made my day!

Actually, all of the kids kind of made my day and put a smile on my face.... every single kid enjoyed the field trip and it was evident through their huge smiles throughout the entire duration.

Inspiring the youth in aviation is wonderful!  Here's some pictures from the event...

Clearly a mini Koko up front here...

Overall it was a grand time!  Look at their faces!

What do YOU do for inspiring the youth?  Is it in aviation?  Another field?  The children are our future - we have to keep their creative minds alive.  I am the person I am today because growing up many others inspired me... and I can only do the same to people younger than me.  Life is short - might as well enjoy it with others!

XOXO

Blue Skies!