HAROLD REUTER is someone who
believes in doing personal outreach for his
flying club. His work for the AMA
Skymasters, a club that flies out of a field at
the Bald Mountain Recreation Area in Lake
Orion, Michigan, is an example of how
creativity and persistence can pay off to
improve community relations.
Harold has been flying models since 1936,
the year the Academy was founded. He began
his interest with simple, rubber-powered FF
models that cost only a nickel, a dime, or a
quarter. Fifty cents was a lot to spend in those
days for a model airplane, and as Harold
notes, “you wouldn’t do that too often!”
Gas engines were expensive and rare in
the 1930s. Harold’s move to the big time
came when his father bought him an allspruce
CL model, powered by a May Motors
Rocket, outfitted with a spark plug, coil, and
a condenser.
Harold graduated from high school in
1947 and worked for General Electric for a
short time before he was drafted by the
United States Army and spent two years in
Germany serving as a communications
specialist. Following his military service, he
returned to the Detroit area and was hired by
Fisher Body, a division of General Motors.
Harold thinks he found employment easily as
an apprentice tool-and-die maker, in part
because he was a modeler.
“A lot of the guys looking for jobs in
those days couldn’t read blueprints. Because I
spent so much time building models, when I
picked up a set of plans, I knew what I was
looking at. They needed people with those
skills.” Harold worked his way up to
production engineer at the company before
retiring in 1987.
Harold began flying RC after he retired
and joined the Skymasters, the local RC club
at Bald Mountain. As with many AMA flying
fields throughout the country, the club’s field
is shared with others who use the area. It is
managed by the Michigan Department of
Natural Resources and the club’s use of the
park is based on yearly approval.
When Harold learned that the Friends of
Bald Mountain, a local self-help group, was
looking for volunteers to build birdhouses, he
signed on, beginning an outreach effort as a
one-man ambassador for his flying club to
others who use the park. Eventually Harold
recruited more than 60 club members to help
with the annual cleanup of the park.
“What I found out is that perception
matters. How model-club members are
perceived by neighbors and other users of the
recreation area is important. Negative first
impressions can be changed. You have to
represent yourself as a desirable partner so
others don’t view your presence as an
infringement on space they consider theirs.
“We now have a corn roast and a fun-fly
every year and we invite those living in the
neighborhood to join us. It builds simple
respect and consideration for one another.”
Harold also had an interest in sharing
what he knew. “I always thought it would be
nice to work with kids. I soon learned that
you had to have something they wanted to
learn, not something you thought they ought
to know. You don’t have the kind of
influence over young people these days as
you used to, so you have to look for other
ways to spark their interest.”
Harold introduces a student to the art and
craft of building a rubber-powered FF
model.
Club members prepare for demonstration
flights at Scripps Middle School. Classes
were dismissed so students and even a few
teachers could take turns on the sticks.
Harold found his way of influencing
young people through modeling classes he
organized at the public library. It began as a
simple idea to display a few model airplanes
in the lobby. Originally, Harold offered to
hang models for a one-week exhibit. The idea
was received so favorably that one week
became a month, which became a second
month, which grew to a year, and then two!
He started the exhibit by doing small
displays that helped the library promote
books and programs as well as historical
events—anything that would stimulate the
public’s interest in what the library had to
offer. The exhibit grew into two huge
mobiles, each with two dozen airplanes
including park flyers, rubber-powered FF,
CO2, and CL models.
This exposure led to a request for modelbuilding
classes for kids of all ages. To avoid
becoming the “community babysitter,”
Harold insisted that parents accompany and
help their children. The success of these
classes eventually led to Harold’s request for
an Education Committee YES grant.
With seed money provided by AMA,
Harold bought tools and equipment including
saws, miter cutters, and even the sandpaper
that would be needed to offer the classes
twice a month at the local middle school. For
four years, with help from other Skymasters,
he offered it as an after-school activity.
The ultimate compliment came when the
local high school technology-education
teacher personally began recruiting Harold’s
“graduates” for his classes. Some of these
students later became members of the high
school robotics team.
Harold likes to move on to new challenges
and his current project involves model
building at the local senior center. He started
the group with several adults, but he
scheduled sessions in the afternoon so that
one of the neighborhood kids could
participate. The senior center director helped
him make his model-building class one of its
first intergenerational programs and he hopes
to attract more kids and seniors.
Harold knows that the going will be slow,
at least at first. “I am probably never going to
get a huge response; however, what I do get
is recognition for modeling as an asset to the
community, rather than have the club viewed
as a liability.”
In a sense, this is the whole point of
Harold’s work. All of his projects have been
part of general outreach to the community.
He likes showing people that modeling is a
worthwhile endeavor. He enjoys giving kids a
positive activity with hands-on experience,
personally helping out with other groups’
activities such as building birdhouses and
other woodcraft projects.
Harold (R) and students of his first class at
the local senior center, begin work on a
trainer that will be used for flight training.
Harold notes, “Anything that gets kids
away from television and computers! We’re
becoming a nation of unskilled people who
don’t know how to do anything with our
hands. You have no idea how you will impact
young people. The important thing is to do
something. You never know where it will
lead.”
In Harold Reuter’s case, his commitment
to public service on behalf of his club led him
from entry-level volunteer work at his flying
site to educational outreach programs at the
local library, the senior center, and the middle
school. He carved out the role of “community
ambassador” for his club.
Harold’s work proves that one person can
make a difference!
—Gordon Schimmel,
Education Committee Chairperson
October 2004 159
Focus on Education
Jack Frost
AMA Education
Coordinator
Tel.: (765) 287-1256
Ext. 274
[email protected]
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Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/10
Page Numbers: 159