14 AVIATION FOR Girls 2016
however, compared to the interlinked and interactive air traffic
control and flight simulations the camp runs. Students learn to
plan flight missions and then carry them out over the course of
their camp session.
"The missions are scalable on the fly," said Aaron Myers, a
camp supervisor. "If the group is doing great, we'll ramp up the
difficulty, or vice versa, so they don't get frustrated," he explained.
The whole program is designed to stealthily make them practice
and grow their science, technology, engineering, and math skills.
But the campers never notice, Myers added.
Not Just Summer Fare
NFA is one of many co-educational aviation-themed camp pro-
grams that run year-round, and are designed to accommodate a
range from individual campers to large school groups, with pro-
grams tuned to several different age brackets. These programs
can be set up as co-ed or single-sex, depending on the needs of
the group attending.
In the mid-Atlantic area Virginia Space Flight Academy, locat-
ed near NASA's Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague Island,
Virginia, holds six sessions of camp for 11- to
16-year-olds interested in rocketry, robotics,
and just plain fun. The six-day sessions in-
clude tours of the NASA facility and plenty of
playtime interspersed with all that learning.
Famil Time
If you're younger than 10, a family-oriented
camp is an experience that might suit you.
Space Camp and Aviation Challenge, co-
located at the same facility in Huntsville, Ala-
bama, run a variety of programs that include
families in a sleepover camp experience.
These three- and four-day programs interspersed throughout the
year are for families with children in the second through eighth
grades. Trust me on this: Going to camp as a family is a blast.
Three- and
four-day
programs
interspersed
throughout
the year are
for families
with children.
The aviation community offers lots
of opportunities to get involved,
and there are a ton of aviation
oriented activities and camps you can
hook into for more learning fun.
MICHAEL M. McCART Y