FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Fifth graders from Amanda Arnold Elementary School, Manhattan, Kansas, toured Fort Riley's air traffic control facility May 18.
The purpose of the visit was to expose the students to various career fields in the aviation industry other than being an aircraft pilot.
The ATC tour was the culmination of spring semester fifth-grade specific programs -- Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration and Adopt a Pilot.
The group of 26 students was led by their teacher Emma Blackwell. The large group broke up into three smaller ones and took turns visiting the air traffic control tower, radar room and a lunch group.
"It's really fun to look at everything and learn and do hands-on things," Blackwell said.
Blackwell said the visit was beneficial to her students because they were learning and talking about science, technology, engineering and mathematics related career fields all semester.
"It's so much more meaningful when they get to go and see things first hand and interview experts in the field," she said. "It gives them a really good feel for what kind of careers that could possibly be in STEM, and that's a really big push of STARBASE in schools right now."
According to Blackwell, most of her student's inspiration for ambition come from mass media, such as being an NBA player.
"For some of (the students), it might be the tipping point they take more classes in high school and college that interest them," Blackwell said. "I think it's always good for the kids to have eyes opened a little bit and think about things from a new perspective."
The best part of the fifth grader's day, according to Blackwell, was going into the air traffic control tower, though the way up was through a long flight of stairs.
"I think they loved being up there and seeing the view and all the instruments and asking questions," she said. "The exercise didn't hurt them either."
The STARBASE program is a federally funded five-day science camp where kids learn about physics and do projects such as build rockets.
Along for the visit was Capt. Ken Rae, a commercial airline pilot, and grandfather of one of the fifth graders, Kellan Janis. Rae collaborated with Mark Turner, ATC specialist, to arrange this visit as part of the classroom's Adopt-a-Pilot activities. This nationwide fifth-grade mentoring program was started by Southwest Airlines more than 21 years ago.
"Pilots go into the classroom to try to inspire kids, get them dreaming about careers and talk about jobs available," Rae said. "It's a wonderful mentorship program."
Turner said the educational tour gave the students a better perspective about aviation. There is a lot of activity that goes behind the scenes when an aircraft is flying.
"And that's what air traffic control brings to aviation," Turner said. "(This visit) gives them a little bit of perspective about what's going on, other than just the two people airplane flying."
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