At just eleven years old, Max Chaplain has operated the controls of an aircraft cockpit while flying hundreds of feet above ground level — something he had never imagined doing before last July.
He was one of many other young aviation students to have spent five days at Laconia Airport as part of WinnAero’s annual ACE Academy, an opportunity for children to learn about aeronautics through hands-on and in-air activities. This summer marked Chaplain’s second time participating in the program.
“Once I went to the airport just to look around and somebody was there. They kind of told me about it,” Chaplain said. “I was like, ‘oh, this seems pretty interesting.’”
WinnAero, the non-profit organization spearheading the academy, was founded in 2009 by retired Gilford attorney Bill Seed. Inspired by an interactive aviation exhibit at the Iowa Children’s Museum in Coralville, Iowa, he hatched the idea in response to declining rates of youth STEM education, according to the WinnAero website.
“Bill was troubled by statistics that showed American youth lagging behind in these critical areas,” a statement on their webpage noted. “His goal was to cultivate student interest in STEM at every age level. Thus was born the Aviation and Aerospace Educational Center at Winnipesaukee, known better as ‘WinnAero.’”
In 2011, just two years after WinnAero’s founding, Seed, engineering educator Dan Caron, retired Air Force pilot Don Morrissey and others organized the ACE — Aviation Career Education — Academy. Since then, the academy has taught students from thirteen states, five countries and 84 communities in New Hampshire, according to Caron. They have also provided nearly $80,000 in tuition assistance to underprivileged children hoping to enter the field of aeronautics.
“Since our very first ACE, the WinnAero Board agreed that no student would be turned away because they could not afford the tuition,” Caron said.
From courses like “Emergency Services and Rescue” and “Aerospace Engineering,” the ACE Academy offers a range of concentrations for children to choose from during their weeklong summer session. Taught by state certified instructors, these classes equip children between grades 3-12 with the skills to become well-rounded aviators.
Students also experience real flight training, full-motion simulations and field trips to nearby science centers — all designed to lay the groundwork for future success in STEM.
“We went on a field trip and we learned about all the types of 3D stuff,” Chaplain said. “They had laser engraving, 3D printing, 3D scanning. I thought it was pretty cool.”
Although this year’s ACE Academy has concluded, WinnAero continues to expand youth access to STEM careers through teacher workshops and educational sessions at local schools.
“We hope that students will leave ACE knowing there are many more career opportunities in the aerospace industry besides pilots, air traffic controllers and astronauts,” Caron said. “A large airport is like a small city. If your passion is aeronautics or astronautics, the aerospace industry has a job for you.”