Published in Midwest Flyer – October/November 2017 issue
DULUTH, MINN. – The top Gilruth Continuum aviation science students – Peyton Nelson, Claire Atella, and Grace Heine – have received the Apollo-Gilruth Continuum Award for academic excellence from the Duluth Aviation Institute, Sky Harbor Airport. The Duluth Aviation Institute supported the 6th grade science teachers with curriculum and classroom kits for the two-month aviation science unit this past school season. The recipients excelled in all curriculum aero-activities, extra credit projects, and in the post-test. The top 15% of students who excelled throughout the program were rewarded with the Kundel First Flight Event at Lake Superior College Center for Advance Aviation on August 26th. On September 9th, the students received a Young Eagles flight at Superior’s Richard I. Bong Airport.
In collaboration with the school districts, the Duluth Aviation Institute has been bringing aviation into the classrooms since 2010 and is currently presenting the Gilruth Continuum program at Ordean East, Lincoln Park, Proctor Middle Schools and Marshall School. During the 2016-17 school season, Nate LaFond, aviation educator for the Institute, and classroom science teachers Sandy Pearson, Peter Froehlingsdorf, Tanya Jackson, Josh Gookins, William Benson, Deb Showalter, and Dave Johnson presented the Gilruth Continuum aviation science unit to 850 sixth grade students.
Creating partnerships for success, the Duluth Aviation Institute called upon EAA Duluth-Superior Chapter 272, Lake Superior College Center for Advance Aviation, and Fly Duluth to assist with the EAA Young Eagle flights.
The Duluth Aviation Institute’s vision is community inspired and enriched by the art and science of aviation. Robert Gilruth, Father of Human Space Flight and child citizen of Duluth, was inspired in his youth to become an aeronautical engineer resulting in great contributions to the world. As the first director of the Johnson Space Center, Gilruth led the national effort to achieve the objective of “landing man on the moon and bringing them safely back to earth.” (www.duluthaviationinstitute.org)
