EDUCATION THROUGH AVIATION by Bill Pritchett, Education Director
“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” — Unknown
An educator recently shared with me a great quote. It’s good to recall when working with youth, especially if you haven’t in a while.
“Children are who they are. They know what they know. They bring what they bring. Our job is not to wish that students knew more or knew differently. Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge and diversity of knowledge we encounter into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience. We can do that only if we hold high expectations for all students, convey great respect for the knowledge and culture they bring to the classroom, and offer lots of support in helping them achieve those expectations.” — P. David Pearson Reclaiming the Center
Reclaiming the Center
To that end, our challenge remains clear: engage youth in science, technology, engineering, and math-related (STEM) activities that pique their curiosity about mechanical things, help them escape the two-dimensional life of a video device screen, and put into their hands and minds the tools to make things.
It’s time to encourage everyone who knows a high school–age student to have him or her look into the AMA scholarship offerings. Our Youth membership numbers now approach 30,000. Many of these members would benefit from the application process as well as the potential for funding assistance paid to the university of his or her choice.
The AMA Scholarship Program has awarded more than $800,000 since its inception. Last year more than $40,000 was awarded to five recipients. Sadly, the number of applicants is extremely low. Although our recipients are greatly deserving, it would be wonderful to see a real increase in the number of our youth vying for one of our financial awards.
I see the opportunities growing through our new Foundation and the continued wonderful donations of so many members and clubs specifically directing their donations to the AMA Scholarship Fund.
We’re excited to add a new scholarship in 2013, the Basil and Dorothy Cooper Memorial Scholarship. The deadline for application this year is April 30, 2013; for the 2014 awards, the application deadline is June 30, 2013.
The AMA Executive Council (EC) recently approved two more exciting changes:
- Charles H. Grant Scholarship adjustments
- Model aviation activity will be placed on even footing with academic achievement in the selection process, opening opportunities to more applicants and better reflecting that we are indeed a model aviation organization.
- More awards will be given in smaller increments so we can celebrate more students with roughly the same total amount of money. The grant award was $30,000 in 2012, and we’re pleased to be able to spread that around to more students.
- Expanded applicant pool
- The EC approved the future development of an application process for matriculated students. Limiting our applicants to high school students excludes a large number of postsecondary students who need financial assistance.
As always, three years of consecutive membership is a requirement.
All of you can help with this. While all donations are greatly appreciated, there are other ways to participate:
- Have your club host an event earmarking proceeds for the scholarship fund.
- Encourage Youth AMA members who are flying with you to apply—many students may be unaware that scholarships are available.
- Offer support to help them complete applications and achieve their goals.
- Tie STEM activities to model aviation activities; consider ordering AeroLab for hands-on learning.
Fly and have fun!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
