Young people with a goal of a career in aerospace were recently offered the chance to see the beginnings of the dream come to fruition by attending one of two aerospace camps hosted by The Sattler Foundation.
The Sattler Foundation has hosted the camps since 2016, except for 2020 because of the pandemic. The camps include one for rising grades 10 through 12 and one for students in rising eighth and ninth grades. The students in both camps learn about aerospace and careers within the field.
April Dugger, daughter of Bill Sattler, for whom the non-profit foundation is named, said that her father constructed five home-built experimental aircraft and that when he passed away, “I was approached about what I was going to do with our hanger and would we be interested in starting a youth program. I said ‘absolutely.’ ”
The senior high camp is called the Exploration Camp, Dugger said, noting only 10 students are accepted into that camp. She added, “we call it that because we explore opportunities after high school. We introduce these students to aviation- and aerospace-related educational opportunities, scholarships and careers.”
Mentors in the field come into the airport to speak the students. In addition, they travel to Middle Tennessee State University to view the various aspects of their program, to airports in Murfreesboro and Nashville, getting behind the scenes tours including an American Airlines tour where they learn “everything that goes on to get an airplane in the air,” Dugger said.
In addition, she added, this year a sail plane pilot came, with his plane, to speak and the students “put the plane together,” she said.
Camp graduate Jared Carter, who plans to attend MTSU’s aerospace program in the fall, said, “I like all of the hands-on work that we did and the tours because they’re really informational.”
Mark Hickman and Nathan Semmes, both senior high camp graduates, said they liked the camp because of everything they learned and the opportunities they were given.
The junior high camp, in which 20 students are taken, is an introduction to aviation and aerospace, Dugger noted.
“It is so much fun,” she said. “We do a lot of experimentation. We talk about what it takes for an airplane to fly. We talk about lift, weight, drag, thrust. They build model balsa-wood airplanes of their own designs, and we have competitions. With the principals that they’ve learned, they know how to adjust the weight and balance on the plane to get it to fly farther.”
In addition, an air traffic controller comes to the camp and talks to the students, helping them guide their planes on a “runway” made onto the floor of the hanger and into the air.
They also took a tethered hot air balloon up and took the sail plane apart and put it back into the pilot’s trailer. They built rockets that they are able to shoot off and the students learn about the various types of fuel, including nitrogen.
To be a part of either camp is “quite competitive,” Dugger said. Each student wanting to be a part of the high school camp must fill out an application, receive a teacher’s recommendation and write an essay.
“We stretch the imagination a bit for our senior high camp and ask them, ‘what is the aviation and aerospace industry going to look like in 20 years?’”
The junior high camp candidates must write an essay about why they want to come to camp, she noted.
The camps are free, but a $50 check is required to hold a reservation to attend. The check is returned to the parent the last day of the camp.
In addition to the Monday through Friday day camps, the Lebanon Municipal Airport chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Young Eagles program’s Young Eagles’ Day took place on June 11 at the airport.
The EAA Young Eagles program was launched in 1992 to young people ages 8 – 17, an opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane. These flights are offered free of charge and are made possible by EAA member volunteers.
To be fair, the pilots also came in on June 18 to fly the junior high campers on June 18.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for anybody in that age group to come out and fly with an EAA pilot, Dugger said. “One of the nicest things that has happened for The Sattler Foundation is that it has been a springboard for the EAA. The EAA now has a youth program. There are 20 youth that are active in our youth program. Our camp counselors come from our youth program.”
She added that the youth members have monthly meetings, go on field trips to museums, they will go to other EAA member’s hangers and see what aircraft different members are building, do activities in the Sattler Foundation hanger and they “try to stay active.”
For more information, visit EAA863.org for more information. Membership for the Youth EAA program is free.
For more information about the camps or the foundation, visit www.thesattlerfoundation.org or email thesattlerfoundation@yahoo.com.
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