Youth Activities for Your Chapter

March 2021 – I see exciting positive signs for 2021, and I hope your chapter is one of those that is actively making plans for the year ahead. We're making it easy to offer youth programs at chapters through our two newest program offerings called EAA Young Eagles Workshops and EAA Young Eagles Build and Fly. Now is a great time to participate in indoor chapter activities, such as building an EAA RC model airplane or teaching kids about aviation.

Nearly 50 chapters have already registered to participate in the workshops program in 2021, and your chapter can as well. The EAA Young Eagles Workshops program enables EAA chapters to offer youth an opportunity to learn about aviation in a social setting at a local airport. EAA Young Eagles Workshops can be a one-day or a multiple-day experience structured to introduce kids to the basic elements of airplanes and aviation. Through various classroom-style learning and hands-on activities, EAA Young Eagles Workshops provide emotional, creative, social, and educational growth to kids with mentorship from EAA chapter members. These workshops focus on specialized aviation content and materials to offer kids to embrace aviation as a potential recreational or career path as they mature. To learn more about EAA Young Eagles Workshops go to EAA.org/YEWorkshops.

If hands-on building is the activity of choice for chapters, join the 34 other chapters already participating in the remote controlled airplane building and flying program called EAA Build and Fly. The EAA Young Eagles Build and Fly program is an RC model building and flying program to introduce youth to aircraft construction and the fundamentals of flight. This is a chapter modeling "program-in-a-box" designed for EAA chapters to partner with local Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) clubs to engage Young Eagles participants and other youth. The program can either be a follow-up to or lead to an EAA Young Eagles flight and is intended to further their passion for aviation. The program kit includes an EAA-exclusive, SIG electric-powered eKadet LT-40 kit, all building materials, electronics, and accessories; a Horizon Hobby Vapor indoor RC model, and a copy of the RealFlight 9 RC flight simulator. The SIG electric-powered eKadet LT-40 kit is an electric motor version of the traditional SIG LT-40 Glo Plug engine powered model, only available through this program. The only things the chapter and club need to provide are the volunteers, a space to house the program, and a computer to run RealFlight 9. To learn more about EAA Build and Fly, go to EAA.org/YEBuildandFly. Be sure to decorate your chapter RC airplane with your chapter motif and bring it to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 to display it in the Blue barn and fly it in the EAA AirVenture RC Flying Field.