The First Annual National Youth Program! Summer 2014 RED TAIL REPORT The Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Youth-Programs Newsletter A major milestone: depending on when youre reading this, TAIs very first national youth camp, the 2014 Summer STEM Academy, is either underway or has just finished at historically black Hampton University, on the Virginia Peninsula near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. The location is a doubly appropriate choice, for not only is it amid a hotbed of NASA and other aviation activities, Hampton University was the site of one of the six original Civilian Pilot Training Programs that soloed the very first Tuskegee Airmen in Piper J-3 Cubs and other civilian lightplanes. Tuskegee ultimately got the glory because Alabama had the empty land on which to build a fully equipped training base--Moton Field--as well as the necessary outlying practice airstrips. But it is too often forgotten that the CPT Programs that turned out civilian black pilots operated not only at Tuskegee but at historically black Hampton, Howard, Delaware State, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical and West Virginia Universities. So but for Tuskegee Institutes vigorous efforts to become the programs center, it might have come to pass that our DOTAs would today be known as “Hampton Airmen.” In 2014, three-quarters of a century after young black pilots were being introduced to aviation in Piper Cubs at Hampton, the 30 young men and women admitted to TAIs very first national youth program are also learning the rudiments of aeronautics in a program focused on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) involved in flight. Each TAI region--Eastern, Central and Western-- was apportioned 10 entries to the program, which this year runs from July 13 to 19. Due to the press of time, the Central Region was able to identify only eight worthy candidates, so the Western Region increased its allotment to 12 students; the Eastern Region has sent 10. (The Spring 2014 edition of this newsletter reported that the first national youth camp would be held in 2015. However Youth Chairman Chauncey Spencer II and his committee got their work done quickly enough that the schedule was advanced one year, though this meant there was only a short time available for youngsters to apply for entry to the program.) The TAI teens are being instructed by Hampton faculty from the universitys School of Engineering Department of Aviation, and many of the kids are bunking in Hampton dorms. The entire program is 100-percent free for the students: the air fare, academics, room and board, complimentary shirts and a cap and other expenses have all been paid by TAI. The program includes a day trip to the nearby Virginia Air and Space Center, and the entire experience will also be a priceless introduction to college life for a select group of teenagers. The Summer STEM Academy will become an annual highlight of TAIs year, and plans are already being made to combine activities at Hampton with the flight-training program at Delaware State University, which has a fleet of Piper Tomahawk, Warrior and Arrow trainers. Like the launch of a prototype aircraft, the 2014 Summer STEM Academy will be a test flight for future programs--a learning experience for TAI as well as for the Academys students. From here on out, TAIs national youth program can only get better. Well provide the dates and application procedure for the 2015 Academy as soon as they are available.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 09:45:29 +0000
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