Focus on Education - 2004/08

GORDON SCHIMMEL, chairperson of
the AMA Education Committee, is taking
this opportunity to profile David Gee, an
AMA member who has demonstrated
extraordinary leadership and brought the joy
of aeromodeling to newcomers.
As with many lifelong modelers, Dave Gee
comes to modeling by way of an influential
mentor. In Dave’s case, it was his father, a
charter member of one of the most
colorfully named AMA clubs—the Old
Farts Flying Club (OFFC)—who gave him a
start in model aviation.
Dave’s dad continues a lifelong interest
in the hobby as an expert stick-and-tissue
builder and flier of Indoor and outdoor
rubber-powered models. Dave currently
schedules his work week so he can attend the
Wednesday morning meetings of the OFFC
and join his father in an interest they share.
Dave and his Porterfield Comet.
Dave started with simple Indoor models
and moved into flying CL and RC as the
hobby expanded in new directions during
the 1950s and 1960s. However, he is still
true to his Indoor stick-and-tissue roots
when he works with children, something
Dave does for fun. He has conducted a
number of classroom demonstrations, often
tailoring each presentation to the models he
has chosen for his audience.
Dave will build different World War I
and II semiscale Profile models, depending
on whether he is presenting in an elementary
classroom or to a secondary-school class in
French, American history, literature, or
science. His primary goal is to make the
presentation interesting, but he believes that
it must also be relevant to the curricular
topics offered by the classroom teacher.
Dave reports that some constants seem to
run through all of his lessons. “There are
certain things everyone wants to see.”
He usually opens with a simple rise-offground
(ROG) model and notes, “Everyone
wants to see an airplane take off and land.
When a small, lightweight Indoor model
does this successfully, everyone is amazed.”
“I also bring along a collection of slowflying
Indoor models, some No-Cals and
Pennyplanes, as well as various biplanes,
canards, helicopters, and an ornithopter.
Teachers as well as their students are
surprised to see something fly so slowly—
and so well!”
Dave admits that there are always a few
kids who are mostly interested in seeing an
airplane crash. When this occurs, he uses it
as an opportunity to emphasize that, unlike
many toys that they are accustomed to, the
model can be easily repaired.
After a few minutes of demonstrations,
Dave’s next activity is a cinch for interest.
“Now it’s your turn,” he declares. “I break
out some Skystreaks—or if the kids are older
and we have enough time, AMA Cubs—and
we begin to build. By the time we finish
constructing, flying, and trimming the
airplanes, two hours have passed. Actually, I
have more fun than the kids—and the fun
they have is reflected back to me.”
Cub Scouts mass launch their AMA Cubs.
Dave likes to joke that he is “corrupting
the youth of tomorrow.” He notes, “Most
kids don’t know that an activity like this
exists.”
Dave’s contributions to the AMA go
beyond the school classroom. Throughout
the past several years, he has been
instrumental in organizing scores of
volunteers from the Black Sheep Squadron
to build Delta Darts at the AMA Convention
that has taken place in Pasadena, California.
Thousands of children and their parents have
had the opportunity to build this model and
discover the simple pleasure of “teaching the
airplane to fly,” as part of a visit to this trade
show and conference.
The show moved to a new and larger
location in Ontario, California, this year.
Dave is looking forward to working with
volunteers from several new clubs to help
staff the event. He also has been a
participant in two of the “roundtables”
organized by the AMA Education
Committee during the conference.
Initially Dave was skeptical about the
usefulness of the meeting, but he
acknowledges that exchanging ideas with
others who also work with kids has given
him new insight into how to improve his
program. “I’ve reflected on some of our
conversations throughout the year. Some of
what I’ve heard there has changed my
attitudes about working with kids.”
He says he has given up trying to
encourage young people to attend Black
Sheep Squadron meetings. Someone in the
roundtable pointed out that kids want to be
with kids, so he’s refocused his efforts to
organize and work with groups that are
predominately made up of young people.
Dave’s educational efforts are not limited
to his work with students in classrooms. He
is dedicated to helping his club retain its
vitality and keeping the hobby and sport
interesting to adults as well. “We come up
with crazy events to challenge ourselves and
keep it interesting. Not long ago, we created
a rubber-powered, rise-off-water (ROW)
event which was pretty hysterical when you
saw what people were able to do to achieve
a successful flight.”
Another popular event centered on giant
bungee glider launches. “Some of our rigs
could launch a couch, so you can imagine
the fun we had launching gliders.”
An avid paintball enthusiast, Dave
points out that problems occurred with that
sport because neophytes could rarely avoid
being taken out of the game by experts who
played all of the time. Newcomers would
just give up and never return.
Dave tries to avoid the inevitable “clique
of experts” in his AMA club who can
sometimes intimidate new arrivals at the
flying field. “If ‘newbies’ are motivated to
seek us out at the field, I try to find a way to
help them, and to celebrate their initial
achievements so they are encouraged to
return.”
Dave has few illusions about converting
large numbers of children to modeling.
“The concept of air-minded youth went out
with the 1930s; for the most part, it has
been replaced by computers and the
Internet.”
In spite of the odds, he makes certain
they understand that “modeling is the least
expensive hobby they can have other than
day dreaming! I tell them, ‘Look at how
much fun you can have with a simple Dime
Scale or ROG model.’”
There is something about the magic of
flight for these Burbank, California,
kindergarteners.
Dave adds, “I always have more fun than
the kids. I love bringing joy to so many
people, including the adults present. I think I
do a little bit to help them discover the child
who is in all of us.”
Focus on Education
Jack Frost
AMA Education
Coordinator
Tel.: (765) 287-1256
Ext. 274
[email protected]
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