Horizons Online Edition

Issue date: 9/17/07 Section: Diversions

Media Credit: Joyce Hirai Training class of 2007 after completing a night mission.

Media Credit: Joyce Hirai Posing with Team Vigilantes and the day time counselor.

Media Credit: Joyce Hirai Studying under an F-14 Tomcat with other counselors.

It is summer time and there are three whole months to relax and possibly get a summer job. This job could be working at a department store, maybe an internship, a campus job, or The U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

This summer I had the opportunity to work at Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama. For those that have not heard of Aviation Challenge, it is a summer camp for kids who are interested in aviation and love to get down and dirty. Also, located about a mile west of Aviation Challenge is the U.S. Space Camp. For twelve whole weeks, I had the opportunity to be a team leader, a mentor, and a friend to sixty-eight high school campers and five parent/child pairs.

Some may think that working at Aviation Challenge would be a piece of cake but in reality, I had to go through a two-week training class before I could be qualified to be a counselor at AC. The two weeks consisted of tests, teach-backs, briefings and physically doing all the activities the campers would go through. After working the typical eight to five, sitting in briefings, trying to make friends, and studying for the tests, by the end of the day, all of us counselors were burnt out. That was not the end of it either; for those of us that were chosen for the Mach III program, we all had an extra week of training. The counselors that were chosen for Mach I and Mach II programs were already picking up their first team as new counselors.

Here is a little background on the different age-specific programs: Mach I is for nine to eleven year-olds; Mach II members are twelve to fourteen year-olds; and Mach III is for fifteen to eighteen year-olds. There are also special plus programs: they are Mach II eight -day and Mach III twelve-day. These plus programs are a little bit more unique because they are scenario-based and specific missions is set out for these campers. To make all the campers' time at Aviation Challenge more realistic as pseudo-fighter pilots, all the counselors gave call signs to their campers. Just like every fighter pilot, to earn a call sign, everyone had to tell a story about themselves, preferably an embarassing one. So, for example, instead of being called Joyce, I was called "Forecast" all summer.

The majority of the summer, I was dedicated to the Mach III twelve-day program. This program is the most "hardcore" program for any camper to go through. The basic goal for the program is to try and become a fighter pilot in the Medusa Squadron. They have to go through many exercises and missions to reach this goal. The first few days for these campers were the lectures and basic flying, such as taking off, landing, and proper air traffic control communications in the simulators. As the week progressed, the campers would begin their training as fighter pilots. Some of their big missions would consist of clearing out and securing rooms; also know as Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain, certifying on different aircrafts in the simulators, and a watered down Survival Evasion Resistance Escape. Fillers between these missions, would have the campers learn Drill and Ceremonies, which are basic military marching movements, land survival, water survival, and fire and shelter building. For the second week, the majority of the time these campers are in the simulators flying missions as fighter pilots. They also have more chances to execute MOUT in several different locations around the camp area including the Space Camp area; which leads up to their biggest mission of Operation Vertigo. This operation ties in everything they have learned thus far. In between missions, they also do team building activities at the Leadership Reaction Course or relax at Rocket Park at Space Camp. On their last day of camp, every Mach program and their counselors gather together and graduate the campers. Since this past summer was the twenty fifth anniversary of U.S. Space Camp, there were a lot of Astronauts, Fighter Pilots, and significant contributors to aviation as guest speakers during the graduation. Just to name a few special guests, Major Jill Long an A-10 pilot, Astronaut Bob Springer, Astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson, Astronaut Story Musgrave, and Jamail Larkins who was an Embry-Riddle grauate. After the graduation and the current team went home, my typical weekend was to function as a support counselor for other counselors until I would have to pick up my next twelve-day team on the coming Sunday or Monday and start it all over again.

Working at Aviation Challenge was a great chance to test myself in many areas such as leadership skills, people skills, and dealing with inconsistent hours. Although there were many stressful times, bad teams, outrageous hours, and sleepless nights; affecting campers' lives in a positive way and giving them more of an interest in aviation makes all the stressful stuff not look so bad after all. The biggest thing that I got out of working at Aviation Challenge was meeting all the new people and creating such good friends.

If you a love working with kids and being their leader and mentor, making a lot money, and meeting new people, then working at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center could be the perfect summer job for you. Other options besides Aviation Challenge to consider are U.S. Space Camp and X-Camp. Check out [www.spacecamp.com] for how to apply and information about what each of these camps does for you and for the kids you mentor.

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