AMA News - Focus on Education

I RECEIVE telephone calls and E-mails every day from members requesting help starting a new program or with their existing aeromodeling education program. Some of these requests are for information, some for materials, some are even for money. Some of the programs are well thought-out; some are not. Some of them seemed destined to failure due to overly optimistic schedules, marginal funding, and understaffmg. Many seem to revolve around one person's ability to drive the program and will likely fail without that person. These programs may be in conjunction with schools or they may be club generated and sponsored. All of these programs have one thing in common. They are the result of one person or a group of individuals trying to make a difference. These people have taken it upon themselves to do something proactive about getting youth involved in model aviation. Intuitively they understand the need for exposing the young to aviation. They know why it's a good thing that the AMA's youth membership numbers are increasing. They know how many useful and exciting things a youngster can learn from aeromodeling. And let's not kid ourselves; they also know that getting involved with the youth in their local community doesn't hurt when it comes to getting and keeping flying sites. I know undertaking such a program is a huge commitment in time, and time is a precious commodity, but think back for a moment. Who was it who helped you when you began aeromodeling? Did someone spend some of his or her precious time with you? Maybe you learned the hard way—by yourself—at great expense in time and money. Wouldn't it have been nice to have someone there to give you a little guidance? Are you thinking that you just don't have enough time to help? Is helping with some program just too daunting a task to undertake? Are there just not enough hours in the day? Maybe it's not quite as bad as you think. Many tasks need to be accomplished in order to get any program off the ground. There are more than enough duties to go around. Not everyone can write lesson plans, teach aerodynamics, demonstrate building techniques for Scale models, or be an instructor pilot. But almost anyone can make copies of lesson plans, prepare a classroom and classroom materials for an aerodynamics class, help clean the shop after a building demonstration, or assemble, preflight, postflight, and clean airplanes used for instruction. Sometimes maps need to be made and disseminated to help direct newcomers to the field or some other event. Someone needs to document the program's progress for the club newsletter. Someone needs to take photographs to publicize the program. This documentation and these photos could be sent to the AMA Education Committee to help with further promotion of the program. Are you starting to get the idea? No one person or even small group of people should have to do everything. If tasks are assigned and accomplished wisely, no one will be greatly inconvenienced. And no single task is really more important than any other task. It takes a concerted effort by all those participating to get the job donc. Whose responsibility is it to initiate, develop, and maintain these programs? Is it that of the AMA Education Committee? Is it that of the club president? The club instructors? Yes it is, and more. I can't think of anyone in our membership of more than 170,000 who doesn't at least share in the responsibility of helping to educate our newcomers—regardless of age—in their chosen area of interest. This doesn't mean that everyone has to start a program, or that anyone should feel guilty for not starting one, but let's look at the following facts: 1) Our membership is more than 170,000. 2) Approximately 100,000 belong to chartered clubs. 3) We have roughly 2,520 chartered clubs. Let's assume the average club has approximately 40 members. If a quarter of this number were to become involved with an aeromodeling education program with a class size of only five students each year for the next four years, 50,400 newcomers would have been exposed to aeromodeling by the end of the fourth year. Think about it! If only one in four of these people became members, would this help perpetuate our sport? Even if few joined, we would have enriched the lives of many and given them an education in aeromodeling in the process. In summary, if we all do just a little, a lot can be accomplished. We just need to spread the word and the responsibility. I'll do whatever I can to help anyone who asks for assistance. Give me a call, or send me an E-mail. Let's see what we can do together, "