Learning about physics and earning core credits
For the third year in a row members of Soaring Academy's crew spent the day working with 200 young teens. These 6th-8th graders are enrolled in Los Angeles based Irving STEAM magnet schools Flight & Space class. Since the beginning of the fall semester these middle schoolers have been immersed in aviation through the lens of "gliders first".
Students earn flight tickets by turning in completed homework on time, which allows them time on the one of two flight simulators in the classroom. The classroom is also outfitted with Oculus, a wind tunnel and more. This day with our crew and a glider on their campus gives the students the chance to go deeper into the subject matter, through hands on learning with our pilots. They also get to learn about careers in aviation from active airline pilots.
7th grader who didn't care that he was late for his next class
John Medley answering questions
Nick Nemirsky showing the students this motor gliders engine as part of his station for the day
Each hourly class breaks up into four groups and rotates around the four stations of the glider
Roy Koehmstedt and Casey Scholz getting great questions and answers out of the students
Gary Forister explaining the instruments
The next part of this class will be a fly day at our field in the spring. To date Soaring Academy has taken well over 1,000 teens flying as part of our mission to inspire youth into aviation. One of the 8th graders who's taken this Flight & Space class twice told us that he feels much more confident after taking this class and particularly flying with us for a second time last spring. He said "after that flight I have more confidence in myself to try new things and I feel like I'm capable and more willing to consider maybe going into a field like engineering or math".
Our crew last Wednesday from left Julie Bennett, Nick Nemirsky, Roy Koehmstedt, John Medley, Casey Scholz, Chris Bennett, Treva Forister, Gary Forister, and Irving STEAM's Flight and Space class teacher Christyn Saracino.