Winning essays earn students rides with the Civil Air Patrol

Pictured are the Civil Air Patrol essay winners with teachers, principals and CAP pilots. Front row from left are Bear Elementary School students Katie Carothers, Rebecca Liepins, and Mara Bradford; Dalraida Elementary students Kaitlyn McDonald, Thomas Cauthen and Jarrod Castleberry and Dalraida Elementary Principal Elise Keith. Back row from left are Bear Elementary School Principal Liz Hill, Bear Elementary Teacher Kris White; Alabama Wing CAP pilots Lt. Col. Sam Sneed, Maj. Ray Hara, and 2nd Lt. Dan Farmer; and Dalraida Elementary Teacher Bryan Raye. (Courtesy photo)

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Winning essays earn students rides with the Civil Air Patrol

Published May 22, 2009

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Thanks to their winning essays on aviation, six fourth-graders from two Montgomery schools took to the skies Tuesday morning, courtesy of Maxwell's Civil Air Patrol.

The students - Kaitlyn McDonald, Thomas Cauthen and Jarrod Castleberry from Dalraida Elementary and Katie Carothers, Mara Bradford and Rebecca Liepins from Bear Exploration Center - are winners of an Aerospace Essay Contest sponsored by the CAP to supplement the schools' preparation for the fifth-grade Alabama Assessment of Writing.

This year's theme, "Alabama Aerospace Heritage: From Roots to Wings," gave the students an opportunity to learn about the historic contributions to the world from three significant Alabama groups - the Wright Brothers (who had the first flight school on what is now Maxwell Air Force Base), the Tuskegee Airmen and Marshall Space Flight Center. Students had to write their opinions, based on their research, about the past and future impact of one or all of these groups.

The six winning students and their essay titles are:
-Kaitlyn McDonald - "Alabama Aerospace Heritage: From Roots to Wings - The Tuskegee Airmen"
-Thomas Cauthen - "Space Exploration and My Future Health"
-Jarrod Castleberry - "Wilbur and Orville Wright: Impact on My Future"
-Katie Carothers- "Alabama from the Ground Up"
-Mara Bradford- "The Wright Brothers: Their History, My Future"
-Rebecca Liepins- "A Shot to the Stars"

Following an awards ceremony at 8:30 a.m. at Montgomery's regional airport, the students, their teachers and principals received airplane flights provided by CAP's Alabama Wing.

The awards ceremony and orientation flights follow CAP's Aerospace Adventures Day, held May 8 at Maxwell. Nearly 300 students and teachers from Dalraida, Bear, Hayneville Road Elementary and Taylor Road Academy learned about Alabama aviation history and explored aerospace careers by participating in the annual enrichment day, which was sponsored by the Montgomery Chapter of the Air Force Association and CAP National Headquarters.

Many of the 300 students participate in CAP's Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) Program for grades K-6. In this program, students receive aerospace-themed, grade-level curriculum that promotes science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) and associated careers; character education to develop good citizens; and physical fitness to learn to live a healthy and drug-free lifestyle.