Air Guard 'starbase' program teaches children how to fly

National Guard, Mar 2003 by Haskell, Bob

West Virginia

On her 11th birthday, Catherine Newcome gripped the yoke of a Cessna airplane and learned a lot about flying.

She crashed the first time she tried to land, but quickly regained her composure, paid attention to her West Virginia Air National Guard coach, and took off and landed safely on her second try.

Catherine did all of this while sitting before a computer terminal at the James Rumsey Technical Institute in Martinsburg, WVa. She is one of thousands of young people Guard officials are helping nationwide to explore math, science and technology.

Catherine and her 24 fifth-grade classmates from the Eagle Intermediate School had just completed the first month-long Starbase Academy in Martinsburg with the support of the Air National Guard's 167th Airlift Wing.

"These are all at-risk kids," explained Joe Padilla who oversees the Starbase program nationally. "You want them to think they've done something more than sit at an arcade game. You want them to think that they can become a pilot, too."

They are at risk, he said, because they live in a rural area that may not have the educational resources of an urban school system. They are also at risk because of their age.

"Fifth graders, kids who are 10 or 11 years old, are the most impressionable. It's the beginning of their peer pressure years," explained Evonne DeNome, deputy director of the new Starbase program in Martinsburg.

"This is the best time to start stressing the dangers of drugs," she added. "Our philosophy is to get them interested in something else, such as math, science and technology."

"It's fun, and it's challenging," Catherine said. "It's good for kids to be able to do things that we don't get to in school."

The academy rekindled Catherine's academic interests, her mother said.

"She used to talk about becoming a veterinarian," Virginia Newcome said. "Then she got into the social mix, and all she talked about was becoming a cheerleader. Now, thanks to Starbase, she's started to talk about being a vet again."

-By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell