The Young Eagles Workshop was a Load of Fun!

EAA Chapter 1361 held it’s first Young Eagles Workshop at the Reno-Stead Airport on October 16, 2021. The Young Eagle Workshop Program is one of the many youth aviation education programs developed by the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. that is designed to keep kids engaged and involved in aviation beyond the Young Eagle Flight Program.

The program consists of eight pre-programmed learning modules, each with either worksheets for the kids to fill out or hands-on projects to complete which reinforce the aviation content presented during the respective learning module.

Since this was the first attempt by our chapter to provide this program, we kept the number of kids involved to a low number and only presented the first four of the learning modules. This method kept the length of the workshop to less than a day and reduced the complexity of the operation. Some chapters run a multi-day summer day camp program which covers all of the modules and adds additional aviation events such as tours and guest speakers.

We invited four kids from the private Triad School in south Reno. Three of the four also had one parent remain during the workshop to observe and help when needed.

The learning modules presented by Jan Bishop, Tracy Rhodes and Doug Kajans were well received and often generated additional discussion among the kids.

The modules covered About Airplanes, Aerodynamics of Flight, Compass Headings and Flight Instruments. After the Flight Instruments module we all adjourned to the flight line area immediately in front of the Stead Airport Terminal and each student was able to inspect and then get into an airplane to reinforce the full day’s learning content.

The aircraft were provided by Doug Kajans, Kurt Redinbaugh, Paul Watson and Tracy Rhodes. The aircraft tours and experiences were very well received and left the students looking forward to future aviation events.