2005 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship Recipients
Since 1970, the Academy of Model Aeronautics has provided scholarships to young men and women seeking to continue their education in colleges and universities. The primary awards are presented through the Charles Hampson Grant scholarships.
In 2005, seven individuals received a portion of the $41,500 Charles Hampson Grant awards. These monies came from a variety of sources including gifts, memorials, and the AMA general fund. The top winner of the Grant award also receives an additional award provided by the Toledo Weak Signals from monies generated by that club’s annual trade show and exposition; in 2005 the Weak Signals contributed $3,500.
An additional scholarship program awarded funds this year. The Sig award, a memorial in honor of the late Glenn Sigafoose, is presented by Hazel Sigafoose Hester and Sig Manufacturing Company. Presented to one or more individuals, the award is based upon financial need and aeromodeling activity. In 2005, three individuals were awarded Sig scholarships totaling $2,000.
This year, 27 applicants met the established criteria and were considered by the committee. A four-member committee evaluated applicants and rated them in several major areas, including:
- grade average
- test results
- school and community activities
- modeling activities
High achievement in all of these categories is important for the maximum amount of scholarship awarded to an individual.
Again this year, the committee members were extremely close in their evaluations. Seven awards were granted from Grant funds rather than the customary four or five because of increased funding and two sets of ties in the scores.
The students' planned majors include:
- electrical engineering
- aerospace engineering
- mechanical engineering
- biomedical science
- aviation
- entrepreneurship / small business
Information regarding applications may be obtained from Jack Frost at AMA Headquarters or by visiting the AMA Education website at www.buildandfly.com.
Ross Howard
Ross Howard, from Georgetown, Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Grant scholarship and received $3,500 from the Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005 graduate of Floyd Central High School, Ross was a straight-A student all four years of high school and tied for top ranking in his class of nearly 350.
Ross is the son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and Ron and Joanne Howard. He is attending Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, and plans to study electrical engineering. In high school he was a member of the wrestling team, student council, and the National Honor Society. Ross participated in Student Renaissance, marching band, and the French, Chess, and Web Page clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout who attained the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior year. His Eagle Scout project cleared a large plot of land near the Providence House for Children, which provides group homes and services for children in foster care. On the cleared land, benches Ross built himself were installed, providing a peaceful setting for parents visiting their children at the facility.
Ross spent many hours working with veterans' programs, other community projects, and numerous school-service activities. He has tutored students in math and has mowed and maintained several neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began modeling at age 8, starting with plastic models and then a CL Cox PT-19 trainer. With his father, Ross went to a local field and flew an old balsa CL model with a .35 Testors engine. Later he learned it was the same model his father had used to teach a high school model airplane club in the 1970s.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross learn to fly RC; he has also learned to build and fly free-flight models. Ross has been an AMA member for eight years. He and his father worked as a judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair worked three summers at the AMA Grand Event when it was held at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. While his father worked as a buddy-box instructor, Ross flight-prepared students by explaining controls and what to expect as they flew.
"Dad has instilled in me a love of aviation and modeling, and I look forward to doing the same for my children."
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes you the best in your chosen career.
Matthew Liechty
Matthew Liechty, from Edgewood, Kentucky, plans to major in aerospace engineering at the University of Arizona. The son of Eric and Debbie Liechty, Matthew is the recipient of an $8,000 Grant scholarship.
Matthew joined AMA in 2001. "My brother Eli got me started in the hobby," he wrote. His brother began flying remote-controlled airplanes when Matthew was in elementary school. A member of the Flying Cardinals of Northern Kentucky, Matthew became particularly interested in helicopters. After seeing a helicopter fly inverted for the first time, he knew he had to get one.
Forced to learn largely on his own because no other helicopter pilots were in the club, Matthew progressed quickly and without much damage to his first aircraft, a Raptor 30 he received on his 14th birthday. He has since become a proficient pilot and is generally considered the best helicopter pilot in his club. He is often asked to help teach aspiring pilots.
Matthew has also helped his brother build several airplanes, including a scratch-built flying carpet which he helped design. He designed and built a small RC hovercraft from spare parts. He regularly attends events such as the International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA) Jamboree, the Nats in Muncie, Indiana, and the Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada, which he attended with his brother.
Matthew attended Dixie Heights High School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and was ranked third in his class of 274. A National Honor Society member, he represented his school in the state Honor Society convention and served as the convention's emcee. Matthew was a four-year member of the student council and senior class vice president. He was chosen for the Governor's Scholars Program, a five-week session at a Kentucky college campus to encourage academic growth and leadership.
Active in sports, he was captain of the cross country team and qualified for the state meet. In track and field, Matthew was a conference champion, placed third in regionals, seventh in state competition, and was named the team's most valuable player.
Matthew was active in his church youth group and served as a mentor to elementary students. He volunteered at Saint Rita's School for the Deaf during his junior and senior years, initiating and leading the volunteer effort his senior year. He has also volunteered at Christ Hospital and served as a judge in the elementary science fair.
Congratulations and good luck at the University of Arizona, Matthew!
Steven Vande Lune
Steven Vande Lune was the 2005 class valedictorian at Kokomo High School in Kokomo, Indiana, and received a $7,250 Grant award. The son of Douglas and Mary Vande Lune, Steven plans to attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, and major in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in aeronautics.
Steven has been interested in aeromodelling since he was a young boy. Beginning with simple stick-and-tissue models, his interest intensified when he became involved in the Science Olympiad's Wright Stuff competition in seventh and eighth grade. He experimented with several modifications of Midwest's Right Flyer and in his freshman year of high school built a wind tunnel to test various airfoil shapes for his science fair project.
With a used Hobby Lobby Telemaster as a trainer, Steven became involved in RC, joined the Kokomo Blue Angels, and became a member of AMA. Over five years his hangar grew to include a GWS Pico Cub and Mustang, and a Sig Four Star 40 and Fazer, all kit built. He has also added an indoor electric micro helicopter.
As an active member of the Kokomo Blue Angels, Steven participates in the club's annual mall show and fly-in, helping to set up and tear down equipment. He assisted a former science teacher with an after-school flight program called the Middle School Flight Lab, where he set up RC aircraft and aided with instruction.
Steven is a member of the National Honor Society, a K-Club varsity letterman, and a member of the Spanish club. He was on the varsity swim team throughout high school and was recognized by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association as a state top-16 swimmer and was an Indiana High School Athletic Association state finalist.
He was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Grace United Methodist Youth Group, Oakbrook Student Ministries, and Children of the American Revolution. Other activities have included planting trees and participating in community beautification projects.
Steven has worked as a lifeguard for the Kokomo Parks and Recreation Department and is a United States Soccer Federation–certified referee, serving in that capacity in various community programs since he was 12 years old.
"While in college, I plan to stay active in modeling. I have already found that there are two RC clubs nearby."
AMA wishes you well, Steven, and congratulations!
Zechariah Spychalla
Zechariah "Zach" Spychalla, son of Leo and Beth Spychalla, is the recipient of a $6,250 Grant scholarship and a $1,000 Sig award. Zach plans to attend Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and major in biomedical science with hopes of attending medical school.
Zach graduated from Watertown High School in Watertown, Wisconsin, with a 3.986 GPA. In school he was an active band member, playing soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone in several school and church ensembles. He qualified for state competition in the District Solo and Ensemble Festival in 2004.
Held in high regard by fellow students, teachers, and administrators, Zach's guidance counselor Jon Sterling noted that while Zach's grades have always been exemplary, Zach strives to learn what is happening in class rather than worry only about grades.
A National Honor Society member, Zach served as the group's treasurer his senior year. He was a member and captain of the school's math team his senior year.
Zach's work experience includes employment as a subcontractor for Spychalla Aircraft LLC, building plugs and molds from which parts are made and sold to the modeling community.
An avid modeler since age 6, Zach has been an AMA member since 1994. A former member of the Lakeland RC Club, he is a current member of the Beaver Area Radio Flyers in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He learned to fly on a Kadet trainer with his father at age 6. The first airplane he built was a Big Stik: "With some glue and three engines later, this Big Stik is still flying," he wrote.
At age 10 he acquired a 1/6-scale Pica T-28 and soon began construction on a 1/5-scale Stuka. With help from his father in the wing design, he completed it in 2001. Zach has since built many Combat, aerobatic, and glow aircraft, including a Balsa USA Fokker D.VII and a Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV Spitfire.
Zach's competition experience includes the Mini Julep Scale Meet, the AMA Nats, and U.S. Scalemasters, where he placed well and received various "Best of" awards.
Zach enjoys nearly every aspect of RC, including giant scale, aerobatics, and combat aircraft. "Recently, I have also greatly enjoyed electrics. I have had electric jets, warbirds, and 3-D airplanes. To sum it up, I do just about anything in radio control airplanes and enjoy every minute of it," he wrote.
Zach, AMA wishes you good luck and hopes you enjoy every minute of school as well!
Dallas Parker
Dallas Parker, from Northridge, California, is the recipient of a $4,000 Grant scholarship and the beneficiary of $2,230 in proceeds from a raffle held at the 2005 AMA Convention. The son of Jim and Cathy Parker, Dallas had a 4.15 GPA at Advantage Preparatory Schools in Santa Clarita, California.
He attended honors classes at College of the Canyons his junior and senior years and earned transferable college credits in engineering math and chemistry. Dallas volunteered as an informal tutor, helping fellow students with chemistry and calculus.
Dallas played soccer and volleyball in high school and received a Sportsmanship award; he served one year as volleyball team captain. He played Little League baseball for 11 years, was chosen for the All-Star team eight of those years, made two tournament teams, and was recognized as a member of the league's Home Run Club.
In 2004, Dallas went on a mission trip to East Berlin, Germany, with his high school church youth group. The group assisted in relocating a church, painted the home of someone in need, and helped with local sports camps.
Dallas built his first model, a P-30, at age 7. He progressed to hand-launched gliders and was flying his father's towline gliders, bunting gliders, and high-performance F1A models by age 11.
Selected as the Junior Assistant Team Manager for the 1999 Junior F/F World Championships in Israel, Dallas had the opportunity to fly as a guest at the competition. He subsequently represented the United States on the Junior F/F teams in 2000 and 2002. He placed highest among the U.S. Nordic team at the 2000 competition in the Czech Republic and in 2002 was part of the Nordic team that received the silver medal in Slovakia. Dallas holds the Senior F1A record.
Since age 11, Dallas has competed in several contests per year. "I especially remember the 2002 Southwest Regionals contest," he wrote, "where I maxed out in F1A, F1H, and Outdoor Hand-Launched Glider." He was appointed the second alternate for the 2006 Open F/F Team.
Other contests Dallas has regularly competed in include Max Men, SCAT Annual, Big Al's, the FF Champs, Livotto's, the Southwest FAI Challenge, the Sierra Cup, and the Patterson contest. His participation in international competition includes contests in Poitou, France, and two World Cup competitions in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Dallas is a member of the National Free Flight Society and the Southern California free-flight community.
Sarah Radziunas
Sarah Radziunas, from Northford, Connecticut, is the recipient of a $3,500 Grant scholarship and an additional $250 Sig award. A graduate of North Branford High School, Sarah was a National Honor Society member, a lacrosse player, and a four-year member of the school's fencing team. She was selected to represent her school in the Connecticut State Fencing Tournament.
Sarah was active in several clubs including Pangea, a humanitarian organization, and Priority One, a community service organization. She has co-coached a middle-school girls' basketball team for a number of years in summer and winter leagues.
Since age 11, Sarah has worked as an apprentice at the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Connecticut. The museum produces hands-on learning projects for area school children, and Sarah has designed or redesigned a number of projects in the museum's catalog. Now a chief designer at the museum, she is responsible for teaching area youth and supervising apprentices. Her work varies from coordinating birthday parties for 20 elementary school children to designing projects for the summer program or local school programs.
In the museum's summer program, Sarah is the resident airplane instructor. "Whether it be an AMA Cub, an Airhare, a catapult glider, a P-30, or an A1," she wrote, "if a camper wants to build it and fly it, I am there teaching."
Sarah is an active member of the Wilbur and Orville Wright Society, where she first began building and flying model airplanes. Introduced to the hobby by her mentor Art Ellis, she became a Wakefield flier. "I am a passionate builder and an equally passionate competitor," she wrote. "I enjoy the challenge of competition, my options, my rival's choices, protecting my planes, and risking my planes."
A member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers, Sarah has competed in contests from club-sponsored meets to international FAI contests and the Nats. She earned a spot on the United States Junior World Free Flight Championships Team that competed in France in 2004.
Sarah plans to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, to study mechanical engineering.
Congratulations and good luck, Sarah!
Tim Smith
Tim Smith is a graduate of Shelby County High School in Shelbyville, Kentucky. The son of Greg and Mary Ann Smith, Tim graduated with a 3.97 GPA and is the recipient of a $3,500 Grant award. He plans to attend Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, and major in aviation.
Tim holds a full-scale pilot's license and flies a Cessna 172 out of Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and has been involved in model aviation for eight years and model rocketry for more than 12 years.
"My father helped me become interested in rocketry because he is a science teacher and always shot model rockets off for his classes," Tim wrote. That experience sparked his interest and led him to learn and later give lectures on rocketry and Newton's Laws to his father's high school classes.
Although he primarily flies RC sport and aerobatic aircraft, Tim and his father have built and flown two CL airplanes. The airplane with which he made his first solo flight was a Dynaflite Butterfly .20. His second airplane was an ARF Tower Trainer which helped increase his skills before advancing to more aerobatic aircraft.
A Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 was the first kit he built by himself. He gave his father a Tower Hobbies Voyager as a birthday gift and aided and supervised its construction; he also made the Voyager's maiden flight and helped teach his father how to fly it.
Tim has held various jobs including house sitter, farm sitter, landscaper, and farm hand, working on small and large farms in his rural community and assisting with livestock and agricultural duties. He worked full time as a lifeguard at a Baptist summer camp.
A three-year member of the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), Tim served in the Honor Guard and was platoon sergeant and squad leader. He was the Cadet Commanding Officer of Shelby County High School's JROTC for the 2004–2005 school year. Tim was a member of the National Beta Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Tim sings and plays bass guitar in a family band named Legacy that has recorded and marketed three CDs. He played on the soccer team and attends a martial arts school where he studies tae kwon do.
He is active in his church as a choir musician, altar server, and Eucharistic and Hospitality Minister. Tim has participated in Operation Christmas Child, coordinated an Adopt-a-Child project to purchase and give Christmas gifts to underprivileged children, and participated in the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.
Tim wrote about how excited he was to receive the Grant Scholarship: "... it is associated with something I truly love and enjoy. It is from an organization that has for many years helped the modelers like me who still get goose bumps when they see a model rocket blast off or a radio-controlled aircraft fly overhead."
Congratulations, Tim, and we wish you the best in your endeavors.
David Rigotti
David Rigotti, from Chesterland, Ohio, is the recipient of a $750 Sig award. A graduate of West Geauga High School in Chesterland, David plans to study entrepreneurship/business at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
David's interest in aeromodeling began with the Science Olympiad. He became interested in indoor free flight, which led him to build F1Ds, Limited Pennyplanes, Pennyplanes, MiniSticks, F1Ls, and FIM airplanes. He has attended local contests held at the Andrews School for Girls in Kirtland, Ohio, the Nats in Johnson City, Tennessee, and the Spring Fling held in Flint, Michigan. His success in competition took him to the World Team Trials at the Akron Air Dock in Akron, Ohio.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
