Two summer camps plan to capitalize on NextGen excitement with focus on aviation
Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 5:55 pm | Updated: 6:37 pm, Sat Mar 12, 2011.
Two summer camps plan to capitalize on NextGen excitement with focus on aviation By JENNIFER BOGDAN Staff Writer
As plans progress for the Next Generation Aviation Research and Technology Park, it’s not only area business and municipal leaders who are excited about the expected influx of aviation-related jobs. In some cases, kids are getting excited too.
Two area summer camps are hoping to motivate the next wave of students to pursue careers in aviation, possibly in their own southern New Jersey backyards.
The Mullica Hill-based National Talent Network will host a week-long Careers in Aviation Summer Academy in July at the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center. The Naval Air Station in Wildwood will host an identical camp in June.
It will be the fifth year for National Talent Network’s camp, which was conceived in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration. Plans took off long before the aviation industry came to the forefront of local discussion.
But with news of the NextGen park expected to produce 2,000 engineering and technical jobs, as well as a spin-off business park planned on the Atlantic City Race Course property in Hamilton Township, the camps that hope to pique teens’ interest in aviation careers have taken on new importance, program leaders said.
The NextGen park will be constructed on the campus of the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center. There, researchers will work to convert air traffic control from a ground-based radio system to a safer and more accurate satellite-based system.
“The goal of this is to get very young children thinking about careers in the aviation industry, whether that may be in air traffic control, or research, or any number of related areas,” said Adam Greco, an FAA air traffic domain director who helps coordinate the camp. “Now, with the burgeoning activity in this area with the technology center, the race track park, the Wildwood Aviation Museum … it’s more likely that these kids could be looking at aviation careers in this area.”
The camps — which will each accept about 30 students in grades six through 12 — include tours of the FAA air traffic control tower and technical labs, and the Atlantic City International Airport. At past camps, aircraft from the U.S. Navy and the state police have flown in for student demonstrations, and organizers talk to students about specific careers in the aviation industry.
“We make this a hands-on program. We keep the camp small to really allow students to get up close and experience these activities in a meaningful way,” said Maria Cotton, director of the National Talent Network. “It’s my belief that you have to offer these opportunities to all students in order to uncover their gifts and talents.”
The program also announced on its website the Thaddeus Lazowski scholarship in honor of the 12-year-old killed in November 2009. Thaddeus, a past participant of the aviation summer academy, was killed when the single-engine airplane flown by his father, also named Thaddeus Lazowski, 53, crashed two miles from the Woodbine Municipal Airport.
Click here for more information on the scholarship.
Greco said the program is even more relevant with the advent of Atlantic Cape Community College’s air traffic control program. The program, which offers an associate degree in air traffic control, took its first class of 78 students this year.
Atlantic Cape developed the program to tie in with the NextGen park and to meet a projected need for air traffic controllers. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates about 3,400 new air traffic controllers will be needed between 2008 and 2018.
The South Jersey Economic Development District is also working with Atlantic Cape on a $2 million Economic Development Administration grant that will be used to construct an Aviation Institute at the college.
“We finally have an air traffic control program that’s local to New Jersey,” Greco said. “That means young people have an opportunity to go through a local program and find a local job in this industry.”
To register
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center will host the Aviation Career Education Summer Academy will be held July 11-15 at the Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township.
Registration is now open to students in grades six through 12.
Contact gifted@eirc.org; 856-582-7000, ext.135; or mcotton@eirc.org; 856-582-7000, ext.136.
Click here to visit the camp's website.
The Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum will host an Aviation Career Education Summer Academy from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 27-July 1 at the Cape May County Airport in Rio Grande.
Registration is now open to students ages 12-17. Student dropoff will open at 8:30 a.m. daily. Transportation from the museum to all events, lunch, snacks and drinks are included.
To register, call Bruce Fournier at 609-886-8787 or stop by the museum.
Click here for more information.
Contact Jennifer Bogdan
609-272-7239
JBogdan@pressofac.com
Two summer camps plan to capitalize on NextGen excitement with focus on aviation By JENNIFER BOGDAN Staff Writer
As plans progress for the Next Generation Aviation Research and Technology Park, it’s not only area business and municipal leaders who are excited about the expected influx of aviation-related jobs. In some cases, kids are getting excited too.
Two area summer camps are hoping to motivate the next wave of students to pursue careers in aviation, possibly in their own southern New Jersey backyards.
The Mullica Hill-based National Talent Network will host a week-long Careers in Aviation Summer Academy in July at the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center. The Naval Air Station in Wildwood will host an identical camp in June.
It will be the fifth year for National Talent Network’s camp, which was conceived in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration. Plans took off long before the aviation industry came to the forefront of local discussion.
But with news of the NextGen park expected to produce 2,000 engineering and technical jobs, as well as a spin-off business park planned on the Atlantic City Race Course property in Hamilton Township, the camps that hope to pique teens’ interest in aviation careers have taken on new importance, program leaders said.
The NextGen park will be constructed on the campus of the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center. There, researchers will work to convert air traffic control from a ground-based radio system to a safer and more accurate satellite-based system.
“The goal of this is to get very young children thinking about careers in the aviation industry, whether that may be in air traffic control, or research, or any number of related areas,” said Adam Greco, an FAA air traffic domain director who helps coordinate the camp. “Now, with the burgeoning activity in this area with the technology center, the race track park, the Wildwood Aviation Museum … it’s more likely that these kids could be looking at aviation careers in this area.”
The camps — which will each accept about 30 students in grades six through 12 — include tours of the FAA air traffic control tower and technical labs, and the Atlantic City International Airport. At past camps, aircraft from the U.S. Navy and the state police have flown in for student demonstrations, and organizers talk to students about specific careers in the aviation industry.
“We make this a hands-on program. We keep the camp small to really allow students to get up close and experience these activities in a meaningful way,” said Maria Cotton, director of the National Talent Network. “It’s my belief that you have to offer these opportunities to all students in order to uncover their gifts and talents.”
The program also announced on its website the Thaddeus Lazowski scholarship in honor of the 12-year-old killed in November 2009. Thaddeus, a past participant of the aviation summer academy, was killed when the single-engine airplane flown by his father, also named Thaddeus Lazowski, 53, crashed two miles from the Woodbine Municipal Airport.
Click here for more information on the scholarship.
Greco said the program is even more relevant with the advent of Atlantic Cape Community College’s air traffic control program. The program, which offers an associate degree in air traffic control, took its first class of 78 students this year.
Atlantic Cape developed the program to tie in with the NextGen park and to meet a projected need for air traffic controllers. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates about 3,400 new air traffic controllers will be needed between 2008 and 2018.
The South Jersey Economic Development District is also working with Atlantic Cape on a $2 million Economic Development Administration grant that will be used to construct an Aviation Institute at the college.
“We finally have an air traffic control program that’s local to New Jersey,” Greco said. “That means young people have an opportunity to go through a local program and find a local job in this industry.”
To register
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center will host the Aviation Career Education Summer Academy will be held July 11-15 at the Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor Township.
Registration is now open to students in grades six through 12.
Contact gifted@eirc.org; 856-582-7000, ext.135; or mcotton@eirc.org; 856-582-7000, ext.136.
Click here to visit the camp's website.
The Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum will host an Aviation Career Education Summer Academy from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 27-July 1 at the Cape May County Airport in Rio Grande.
Registration is now open to students ages 12-17. Student dropoff will open at 8:30 a.m. daily. Transportation from the museum to all events, lunch, snacks and drinks are included.
To register, call Bruce Fournier at 609-886-8787 or stop by the museum.
Click here for more information.
Contact Jennifer Bogdan
609-272-7239
JBogdan@pressofac.com
