Jenn's Blog

The best part of ACE Camp hands down the flying. It is my favorite because most of the kids have never been in a small single engine aircraft before. It is the most amazing and rewarding experience to watch them leave nervous and scared, and come back from the flight with smiles from ear-to-ear full of excited energy.

Today we began the day by walking down to the DWC Flight Center at Boire Field (ASH). Since the camp is so large we have split the campers up into two groups (red and blue, kids are easier when color coded). The blue group had the opportunity to fly first, while the red group continued on to the ATC Sim lab to learn about air traffic control and give it a try. About half way through the morning the two groups switched. Since the day is packed with activities about half of the campers weren’t able to go flying

Since it is most likely going to be my last summer working ACE Camp I thought I would try to continue the family tradition of attending the camp by begging my uncle to let my 12 year old cousin Jamie to come. My uncle, an American Airlines pilot (former Air Force pilot) thought it was a great idea and agreed to send Jamie up from Virginia to attend the camp. The two of them flew up early Sunday morning, and I drove in to BOS to pick Jamie up. I’m still not quite sure who was more excited about Jamie going to the camp (although I am pretty sure that both my uncle and I are hoping and praying Jamie might catch the aviation bug).

The first day of camp is always crazy. It’s the earliest morning of the week and there is lots to do. Unfortunately for Jamie he had to go in extra early with me since I have to be there to help set up and greet the new campers. This is our largest day camp yet with 29 campers, and 3 are girls (which is another record).

We always begin the day with a speech from Paul (the camp director) and introductions. For the introductions everyone had to state their name, favorite airplane, movie and food. Our intros went something like this:

Name: Jamie
Favorite Airplane: SR-71 (I was so proud)
Favorite Movie: N/A
Favorite Food: N/A

Name: Jenn
Favorite Airplane: B-1B
Favorite Movie: Transformers (the only movie I could think of since it was the last one I saw)
Favorite Food: Anything (I’m still in college mode so I’ll eat anything as long as its free)

After the intro’s we got started with the day’s activities. The day’s schedule  went something like this (although it is more like a guideline because of weather):

Monday,  July 13th

0830 – 0930   Introductions (students & directors) & Review of Camp Rules
0930 – 1015    Plane Parts/Wing Parts/Aerodynamic Terms
1015 – 1030    Break
1030 – 1100    Paper Plane Competition
1100 – 1130    Wing Area -vs- Glide Distance
1130 – 1200    How to Build a Balsa Glider
1200 – 1230    Lunch
1230 – 1300    Break
1300 – 1400    Balsa Glider Design and Building
1400 – 1630    Intro to Flight Simulators and Sim Challenges

At 1630 the camp is over for the day.  Every year it surprises me how exhausting the first day is. By the time Jamie and I got home we were half asleep and starved. I struggled to stay awake while Jamie crashed in his room waiting for dinner. When asked Jamie said his favorite part of the day was playing with the flight sims. I love my camps so much, but if asked I would have to admit that my favorite part of the day is always going to be bedtime!

I couldn’t have asked for a better and smoother first day of camp. Tomorrow will be another great day : )

I’ve been doing a lot of tweeting about something called ACE Camp which led to many inquiries as to what it is. Aviation Career Education (ACE) Camp is a one week program sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration that introduces children of all ages to the aviation and transportation industry (with an emphasis on flying) and the many possible careers available to them.

The ACE Camp program can be found across the nation. I work at 3 of the camps: two at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH (one is a day camp for middle schoolers, and one is an overnight camp for high schoolers), and one in Nantucket, MA (please see my post “A Week on Nantucket” from June).

The inquiries I have been receiving sparked an idea for a series of posts to give some insight into the day in the life of a camper at the ACE Day Camp and will feature my cousin Jamie who is attending the camp for the first time.

I hope you enjoy the journey!

I completed my third (and most likely final) session of the Nantucket ACE Camp last week.  The week started off with an exciting flight over on the new Island Air Caravan. We were all excited to finally see a 25% growth in the camp size, but definitely weren’t prepared for the curve ball that we would be thrown later in the week. Aside from the size of the camp there were many new changes this year. We welcomed a new director, Curt Harvey, to our crew. He was the perfect balance of control and compassion that held the campers attention throughout the week. We had two counselors in training this year as well. One was a student from Maine, and the other a native Nantucket-er. The week consisted of the usual activities, Flight Sim, class room sessions, tours of the ACK terminal and tower, rocket building/launching, a field trip to HYA with Cape Air and my favorite: air port building.  However, half way through the week we were asked to take on 10 extra students from another camp. It is surprising how much of a difference 1 camper makes, let alone 10. It was crazy but fun week dodging the weather and keeping 16-26 (depending on whether the other camp was with us or not) happy. I was sorry not to have more time there and will miss the camp tremendously!!