By Juergen Nies
Our chapter is hosting four different Winchester City elementary schools at the Winchester airport. The classes are spread out over four days over two weeks. On Tuesday April 18th we hosted 36 children and on Thursday April the 20th we hosted 54 children. On Tuesday April the 25th we will host another 36 children and on the final day on April the 27th another 54 children for a total of 180 children.
We put together a short STEM education program to show the children how things fly. We start off with a kite (something every kid can relate to), then move on to gliders (paper airplanes) and then show powered flight using rubber band balsa wood airplanes and finally move to rubber band powered helicopters. As you can see by the pictures, they had a lot of fun.
After the STEM class it was time to look at a real airplane. Chapter member Stan Kerns parked his Mooney in front of the terminal building for a static display. The children were all very well behaved and stayed in line and didn't touch the airplane.
So far, the first two day were a great success to interest children at a young age into aviation and it was a lot of fun too.
How do kites fly?