Spending Time In The Cockpit Will Help Them Become "Pilot In
Command Of Your Classroom.”
Twelve teachers responsible for instruction in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related subjects
are on the cutting edge of leadership development by stepping out
of their normal routines and into the cockpit of an airplane with
the "Leaders Take Flight" workshop. This educational adventure will
take place on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25 at Alexandria
Field in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Leaders Take Flight Participant
Participants represent schools from throughout the region that
include Rutgers University, Hunterdon Central Regional High School,
Raritan Valley Community College, Hunterdon County Polytech,
Delaware Valley Regional High School and Alexandria Township Middle
School.
The Leaders Take Flight workshops are one component of a
demonstration project that expands the role of a general aviation
airport, Alexandria Field, as an educational resource and living
laboratory in the community. This aviation-education collaborative
was recognized by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) in
September 2010, and awarded a Garrett A. Morgan Technology and
Transportation Education Program (GAMTTEP) grant of $100,000.
The grant, along with numerous in-kind resources from the local
community is funding over 20 educational programs, including two
Take Flight workshops. The June event is for teachers and another
is scheduled in August for young women students from local high
schools.
“The objective of the collaborative is to encourage the
development of STEM related careers for women and other underserved
populations”, said Linda Castner, the Central Jersey GAMTTEP
program director. “The unique aspect of this collaborative is
using the resources of a general aviation outlet for new STEM
learning and encourage not only development of the individual, but
create an awareness regarding careers in the aviation workforce.
These Take Flight workshops use airplanes as a learning
environment.”
During this two-day intensive program, twelve female teachers
will delve into management development using flight. Through a
carefully designed series of experiential learning exercises, the
airplane and its related activities serve as metaphors for
successful leadership behaviors that can be used in everyday
challenges. This new, 360 degree perspective, allows participants
to take note of routine responses and interpretations that limit
their performance and effectiveness, and to realize new, creative
solutions for leading their classrooms and their personal
lives.
Several of the educators selected for the workshop have
expressed their high expectations for the workshop. Stefanie Bord,
a science teacher at Hunterdon Central, said, “I’m
excited to be a part of this workshop - to grab a hold of
engineering and technology - to gain control over something
I’ve never imagined I could, and see the world from a
completely different view!”
Because all of the participants are educators of some kind,
there is an emphasis on spreading the knowledge learned during
these two days to their students and using the skills obtained to
influence a younger generation of women to “take
flight” themselves, in whatever they wish to pursue. Karen
Batista, a science teacher at Hunterdon Central, anticipates taking
the experience of the Take Flight workshop to her classroom, and
describe what she observed and learned to empower her female
students: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
heard, ‘oh, I’m not smart enough for that!’. And
yet, these very same girls stand at the top of their class. So the
program’s purpose of increasing self confidence, self
respect, self esteem, and empowerment are goals that ring true for
me.”
Linda Castner
Marianne Baricevic, a teacher and supervisor at Raritan Valley
Community College described her expectations: that attending the
Leaders Take Flight workshop will enlighten her on how she can lead
a group of very intelligent, headstrong and creative group of
instructors to benefit the people they work for: their students. In
anticipation of the workshop, Delaware Valley science teacher
Nicole Carro said, “I would like to use my experience with
the Leaders Take Flight workshop to inform students about the
physics at work and also to inspire them to take on their personal
challenges.”
The workshop will unfold in three dimensions. It will provide
the flying experience itself, an analysis of the experience as it
unfolds, and a capitalization on the effects of the adrenaline rush
and the high-pressure situation. The workshop is comprised of
classroom instruction and experiential activities, including two
hours of flight instruction and one hour of ground instruction with
a typical training aircraft. Workshop facilitators include Dr. Sue
Stafford of Simmons College and Linda Castner of Alexandria Field
as ground facilitators. Rich Stowell, an internationally recognized
flight instructor from Santa Paula, California, Sarah Brooks, a
flight instructor at Auburn University, and Andy Phillips, a flight
instructor at Alexandria Field, as the flight facilitators.
Past participants in the workshops have provided women in a
variety of roles, businesswomen, busy mothers, teenagers interested
in STEM, and the teachers that educate them, to learn and enhance
leadership traits, confidence, adaptability, and teamwork. Beverly
Stoskus, an Alexandria Township Middle School guidance counselor,
summarized her expectations when she said, “this workshop
will be a wonderful opportunity to be ‘filled up, renewed and
stretched’.”